


Mercs at Work

by Triblast28



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: All will appear in later chapters, Badass old man, Emotional Strange Commander, Follows show events, Gen, Happy Pilot, Huggable Russian Doctor, Human OCs - Freeform, Mercenaries, OCS include, Prequel Arc, Science Old Man, Teenager with Bombs, War what is it good for, please enjoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-03 20:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 67,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8728231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triblast28/pseuds/Triblast28
Summary: Just an average job. Giant monsters ,check. Ancient alien temple with some relic inside of it ,check. Space rocks, check. A whole lot of ammo, double check. (This is copied on pasted on to this website from fanfiction.net unedited, this originally on fanfiction.net and yeah. I'll not gonna post all thirty chapters at once give it a bit.)





	1. Pilot

Beams of sunlight broke through the tree line of the dense jungle. Birds flew over the misty canopy, as snakes slithered along the jungle floor. A bird's caw occasionally broke the silence of the quiet jungle. A heavy mist covered the filled the air. The wet dew covered grass thrived from the hot and humid terrain. In the middle of a clearing was a pure white stone pad covered with vines. A small bird came out of the dense jungle and started to peck at the pad. Suddenly a pillar of light came from the pad making the bird fly away. Out the pillar of light stood four figures, the first was a large pale woman with giant curled pink hair she was wearing a pure white dress with a star in the middle of it, next to her were three smaller figures. A pale woman with a sharp nose was wearing a flowing outfit with a gem in the middle of her forehead, a tan stoic looking woman wearing a black and red outfit her afro was in a perfect square figure, lastly was small purple excited looking child(?).

The large pale woman looked at the jungle excitedly. "Here we are in the lost jungles of misty valley I haven't been here for a thousand years. I remember when it was just sporting," She said as she looked at the plants happily.

The pale woman with a sharp nose looked up at her. "This jungle is here because of you Rose," She said admiringly.

"We should start looking for the gem temple," Rose said focusing.

The group got off the pad and started walking towards the jungle. All the suddenly the silence of the jungle was broken by the sound of a bullet. A bullet hole pierced the ground inches away from where Rose stood. A sudden gust of wind filled the clearing as the four summoned their weapons. The jungle reverted back into silence as an uneasy feeling filled the air. There was the sound of boots shuffling through the forests. A single figure emerged from the darkness of the jungle. He was a tallish man with combed back brown hair held down by a brown bandana; he rubbed his stubble as he stared at the group. He was wearing a jungle camouflage military garb and black combat boots, on his jacket was an emblem of a skull wearing a blind fold, there was also a knife in its mouth that had the initials T.O.U. The man sighed and sat on a tree stump.

"So can you tell me what I am looking at?" He asked as he stared at the four with his brown eyes.

"I am Rose of the Crystal Gems-" Rose started, but the man held up a hand telling her to stop.

"Crystal Gems as in the protectors of earth from thousands of years ago," The man said skeptically.

"Umm yes that is us," Rose said taken back by the man's answer.

The man pulled out a device that looked like a walkie talkie with a camera opening on the back and front. "Hold still," A blue ray scanned the four.

"Wow what is this?" The purple one asked as she poked at the ray.

The ray disappeared and the man put the device away. "You are not authorized to be here Crystal Gems or not please leave," The man said with a tone of authority.

"We can't do that," The tan one piped up.

"Yes we have a mission here," The one with a long nose said.

The man stood up. "So do we, if you refuse to leave we will have to use force," The man threatened with a glare.

"What do you mean we?" Rose asked as she stared at the lone man.

The man looked around the jungle. "Me and the twenty sharp shooters equipped with assault rifles that are surrounding this field," The man raised an open palm in the air.

The four glared at each other in silence. From the forest there were sounds of guns cocking or being loaded. A bird cawed in the distance, as a snake slithered through the middle of the clearing. It hissed at the gems and hid descended into the wet tall grass.

Out of nowhere the man broke the silence. "What do you mean it was a match?" The man asked no one.

"How was I supposed to know that!" The man yelled getting annoyed.

The gems stared at him confused. "No I didn't shoot them yet," The man groaned.

"Is something wrong?" Rose asked concerned about the ranting man.

The man growled. "I am not that much of a brute I would've probably used non-lethal techniques," The man said with a pout.

The man moved his hands in the air flustered. "Well how would you react if you were in my shoes," The man said.

"I think this dude has gone insane," The purple one said with a giggle.

"I bet he has jungle madness," The tan one said as she watches him continue to argue with no one.

The man made a verbal groan. "You four come with me the boss wants to meet you," The man said with a sigh.

"You were just threatening us, now you want us to come follow you, is a trap?" The one with a long nose asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry Pearl we will be fine," Rose then leaned down and whispered. "Plus he can't do anything to us."

"Even if it was a trap, we can just beat him down," The tan one butted in.

The man started to walk into the jungle. "Come on I don't want you to go get lost and die," The man said reluctantly.

As soon as the five walked into the jungle a large squad of people wearing military garbs and balaclavas appeared out of nowhere surround the five. They suddenly saluted at the man, the man made a few hand gestures and the squad surrounds them and started walking forward. The man pulled out his walkie talkie device and blue holographic screen popped out of the front camera. The gems stared in wonder at the device.

"So what is that thing anyways?" The purple one asked.

The man made a disgruntled noise and continued to work on the holographic screen.

"You know Pearl can do something similar with her gem," The purple one said. "But hers is lamer all it does is show pictures."

Suddenly the holographic screen turned into a large geographic map of the area with multiply arrows moving around it. The man poked on one of the arrows and pressed a few symbols. He then made a few hand motions and the group stopped and sat down. Some of the soldiers started talking to each other in some foreign language, others stared down the gems. Suddenly a blue ray scanned the area and the man reached into a tree and pulled out a fruit. He pulled out a knife and cut it open.

"Why did we stop?" Rose asked the man.

"We needed to wait," The man replied simply as he bit into the fruit.

The man pressed a few buttons and music started to play from his device. "We are waiting for a report of the area, base camp was moved when were out on patrol," The man said as he sat on the ground.

The man joined in on a conversation with some of his soldiers. "So why are you here?" Rose asked as she looked at a few of the weapons. "There isn't a war going on here is there?"

"If there was we would be getting a bigger paycheck," The man said with a sigh. "We are looking for an ancient temple?"

"Why are you looking for this temple?" The tan one asked.

The man yawned. "That is classified," The man finished his fruit and continued to work on the device.

The man went back to talking to some of the soldiers. A box was parachuted in the middle of the group. The man walked over to the box and pulled out an assault rifle, shotgun, and handgun and put them on his person. He pulled out a few filled canteens and threw them towards the soldiers; he then pulled out a wire from the box and plugged it into his device. A loading screen formed on the screen of the device, it then changed into the map and a new point appeared on it. The man made a few hand signals and the group once again started moving forward. The group continued to move through the dense jungle. A swarm of bugs loomed over their heads constantly buzzing. A soldier occasionally complained in his language about the weather, only to be shushed by a glare from the man. After a few hours of trudging through the terrain the group walked into a large clearing with a few mess tents and smaller tents. The squad of soldiers scattered into the camp leaving the gems and the man behind. The man led the gems into the largest tent; inside it were many maps, communication gear, and a bunch of other devices. Suddenly an old man in a wheel chair came into the tent and moved to a table. The man sat on top of a box as the old man stared at the gems.

The old man coughed and finally spoke up. "I must apologize for the commander's behavior towards you Rose Quartz, we were not expecting the Crystal Gems to actually come here, we were not sure if you still existed," The old man said in a weak gravelly voice. "I am Marcus Knight one of the leaders of Travelers of the Unknown mercenary group, I am head of the scientific division. You already meet Commander Anders."

Anders looked up from the gun he was polishing and then went back to polishing it. "We as you already know the Crystal Gems you already know who I am, my three companions are Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst," Rose Quartz pointed to the three as she introduced them.

Marcus looked at the group in awe. "It is such an honor to meet you all, I have been researching how the gems effected Earth development, there history on Earth, and their technology for most of my life," Marcus said awestruck. "I never thought I would ever meet actual gems."

Anders made a disgruntled noise and Marcus stopped being giddy. "Oh sorry I am getting off track," Marcus said blushing.

"No, no it's quiet alright," Rose said giggling a little bit. "We heard that you are looking for an ancient temple in this jungle is that correct?"

"Umm why yes, I think the job has gotten much easier with you four here," Marcus said as he cleared his throat. "I was looking for some gem artifacts to help me advance my research, I would be honored if you helped me with this and I will even let you keep the artifacts when we are done with them."

Anders glared at him. "We don't need some magical space rocks helping us, my men are more than experienced enough to deal with this," Anders said maintaining his glare.

"Oh come on Anders I am not saying that our soldiers are incompetent, it is just how often do we get a chance to work with the liberators of our planet?" Marcus asked rhetorically.

"That doesn't matter, it is dangerous to leave humans alone with gem artifacts," Garnet said stoically.

"Wait you think we can't handle a glowing space rock, for your information we have been dealing with this stuff for over five years now," Anders said with a smirk.

"And we have been dealing with it for thousands of year," Garnet replied.

Anders glared and went back to polishing his gun. "Please everyone calm down, we can come to some sort of agreement. I know you need information and the relics, so if you work with us we give you the information and help you retrieve the artifacts. But I get a week to research them, what do you think Rose?" Marcus asked as he went into another coughing fit.

Anders walked over to him and gave him some medicine. "Thank you Anders," Marcus popped a pill.

"Rose do you think we can trust them?" Pearl whispered to her. "They are mercenaries."

"Yeah we should totally be scared of angry stubble and that coughing old guy," Amethyst said sarcastically.

They looked over to see the two playing rock, paper, scissors. "Their weapons would be useless against any corrupted gems, it seems too risky to bring them," Pearl said nervously.

Anders suddenly started to celebrate. "I have an answer," Rose said seriously. "We agree to the deal."

Pearl looked up at Rose in surprise. "Oh my God thank you so much," Marcus wheeled his self over to Rose and started to rapidly shake her hand. "This is such an honor we promise we shall not let you down."

Rose moved her hand away from Marcus. "Yeah ok," Rose nervously giggled.

Suddenly Anders device buzzed. "That was the scout report we move out in five minutes. Meet me at the south edge of the camp," He walked out of the tent while he read what was on the holographic screen.

Anders sighed as a group of soldiers joined up with him. Some of them were equipped in heavy body armor and grenade launchers or heavy machine guns. They sat on the edge of the camp chattering in a foreign language. Anders pulled out his device and started to listen to music. Anders read the scouting report as the gems approached. He stood up and put away his device.

"Ok it is a four mile trudge through jungle and I want to reach the temple before the next rainstorm comes in," Anders made a few hand motions and the soldiers started to move.

The sounds of boots going through the mud filled the silence of the jungle. A dense humid mist filled the air blocking out the light. Snakes slithered alongside the group from the tall grass, they hissed at the gems frequently. Amethyst turned into a snake and wrapped herself around Pearl's leg. A loud scream made the birds fly away. Anders chuckled a little bit, but quickly went back into a serious tone. The soldiers spoke to each other in their language, trying to make the trip go quick. After an hour of walking Anders stopped and put a hand in the air. The soldiers stopped in place and the gems stared at commander. Anders stared at dry patch of mud with burnt grass around it; he then looked around and stared at burnt and destroyed trees. He pulled out binoculars and stared through them. A smirk formed on his on his face.

"Men we got the first hunt, we got one of those gem beasts a few yards away from here," Anders said as he pulled out his assault rifle.

"Wait it is a corrupt gem your weapons will have no effect on," Rose warned.

Anders looked at his soldiers and then they suddenly started laughing. "Very funny, but you don't know what we are packing. Ok heavy unit go to the upper ridge to the east, don't fire unless you get my signal," Four soldiers saluted and started going towards the east. "I want six men to hide behind those rocks over there, stay away from the trees or any plants this gem has some sort of fire ability."

Some men went off. "I will lead a direct assault with the gems, everyone else stay in case we need back up," Anders pulled out a clip of ammo loaded the rifle. "Come on let's get moving."

Anders and the gems slowly approaching a burnt down clearing where a giant orange tarantula beast was sleeping, Anders ducked by behind a rock and the gems joined him.

Anders took a deep breath. "Ok we have the element of surprise here my men will start firing in one minute. Before that one minute we have one shot to get a round in its head making it disorientated. If we can't find its weak point in less than five minute the heavy unit will unleash of barrage grenades, there will be a 50% of the gem being destroyed and it will be a waste of resources so I want that gem dealt with before the five minute mark, get it, got it, good," Anders listed off quickly as he switched to his shot gun.

"Umm could you please repeat that?" Amethyst asked confused.

"No time only fifteen seconds left," Anders all the sudden shot the tarantula in the head.

It roared in pain loudly and stood on its hind legs. All the sudden a barrage of bullets come from group of rocks hitting the tarantula in the back. The beast came crashing down as Ander switched to his assault rifle and started to shoot at its eyes.

"What are you four doing join on this fight we only have three minutes left before the grenade barrage!" Anders yelled as he continued to fire attack the tarantula.

The gems summoned their weapons and ran towards the tarantula. The tarantula stumbled around the clearing as it was hit in the face by Garnet launching it across the clearing. Suddenly the beast roared loudly and it unleashed a wave of fire towards Garnet. Rose suddenly appeared in front of her and formed he shield protect Garnet from the fire. Pearl leapt on to the abdomen of the tarantula stabbed it repeatedly making it stop shooting fire. The tarantula rolled on its back and poofed (it crushed Pearl in the process). Anders reloaded his assault rifle and put it on his back. The bullets stopped firing and the sound of boots moving filled the jungle once again. Anders smirked and picked up an orange prism shaped gem.

"How did your bullets hurt it?" Garnet asked as she looked at the empty bullet shells on the ground.

"We can thank Knight for that," Anders pulled out a single bullet. "These little babies were made out of cross between Earth materials and gem designs left behind on Earth. Yeah normal bullets wouldn't do squat against that thing, but these things are made out of certain alloy that can pierce through the shell or form of any gem."

"Hmm cool," Garnet replied with a nod.

Anders pulled out a metal canister and put the gem in it. "May I have that gem?" Rose asked putting out her hand.

Anders stared at her. "Since it was your group kill you can have it," Anders said pouting a little bit as he threw the canister to her.

Anders soldiers regrouped with him. Anders sighed and the group started moving away from the clearing. After a few more hours of trudging through the jungle in silence someone spoke up.

"So how long have you've been in this group Anders?" Rose asked trying to make conversation.

"Since I was eighteen so six years now," Anders said rubbing his stubble. "But we didn't start this gem stuff until five years ago."

"Pretty young age for a human to be in this line of work," Rose said surprised.

"Eh I didn't have many options when I was growing up and I needed money, these guys were recruiting and I wanted to be part of something bigger," Anders shrugged his shoulders.

"Have you been in any battles yet?" Rose asked quietly.

"Tons I would guess I been in at least ten battles, fought on three continents, and fought for nine different governments," Anders said trying to remember.

"Sounds like you have seen a lot," Rose said as they started to walk down a cliff.

"I have. But I don't think much about it. In our line of work we can't let ourselves fall apart. When death can happen daily, you learn not to get hung up on stuff that you've seen," Anders said in a sad tone.

Some soldiers nodded, but remained silent. The rest of the journey was silent. The group soon came to a giant stone temple carved into a mountain. Parts of the temple fell apart as they approached. The sun beamed down on the vines that covered the temple. A snake slithered along the ground and went into the darkness of the temple. Anders and his soldiers put flashlight attachments on their rifles and they went in. The temple was dead quiet; it appeared that there wasn't a single living thing in there. The group walked past destroyed murals and writings.

"Such a shame this temple was so beautiful," Pearl said breaking the silence.

"I never seen it before," Anders pulled out his device and scanned the area.

"It was so remarkable, artists from serval planets gathered here to practice their craft," Pearl said as she touched an old mural.

"Odd place to hold an art fair," Anders kicked some rocks.

A soldier pulled out a radar gun looking device. Anders plugged his device into it. A loud sound filled the temple. A big dot appeared on the map of the device. Anders smirked, as the soldiers switched to their shot guns and the heavy's switched to their machine guns. The group advanced forward. Rose stared at the sudden change in weaponry and wondered why they changed. The group continued to move forward until they reached a large decaying room. Anders stopped and looked up; a bird flew into the room through a hole in the wall. The ground suddenly shook and giant worm looking creature broke through the floor of the room and ate the bird mid-flight. The worm retreated back in ground showing a pale red colored gem for a brief moment. The gems stepped forward and summoned their weapons; two soldiers blocked the way stopping them from advancing. Anders pulled out grenade and threw it into the air in the room. Once more the worm emerged and ate the grenade as it flew through the air. As soon as the grenade entered the mouth of the worm it exploded. There was brief rumbling as the worm "head" fell on the ground. Anders walked forward shooting the beast repeatedly with his shotgun. The worm cried out in pain with every shot until it finally poofed. Anders smirked as he put the gem into a metal capsule.

Rose walked over the smirking Anders. "There was no need to be so brutal it," Rose said as she looked at the bullet shells on the floor.

"They are mindless beast it's not going to make their lives worse," Anders grunted as he reloaded his shotgun.

"We can debate that later, but may I have that gem?" Rose asked changing subject.

"Nope my kill my gem," Anders replied simply.

"Your capsule can't stop it from regenerating," Rose said crossing her arms.

"It can, it uses radiation which hurts the gem and weakens it both mentally and physically when it tries to regenerate, it poofs before it can get a form," Anders explained as he put capsule into a bag on his belt.

"The sounds so painful," Rose said quietly.

"So what, it is a mindless beast we dealt with the problem end of story," Anders replied shortly.

"They aren't just beasts," Rose said.

"Look if you want to hear a song and dance about holding hands with giant monster you've come to the wrong place," Anders growled walking away.

The soldiers walked alongside him as they went into another passage. The gems walked behind them in silence. The group went deeper into the inner workings of the temple.

"So what is your problem with those gems?" Amethyst asked loudly.

The soldiers appeared to look surprise and then looked at Anders. Anders stopped in his tracks and looked at Amethyst. Pearl quickly covered Amethyst mouth. "So sorry she shou-" Anders raised a hand making Pearl go quiet.

"I will answer her question," Anders said simply. "The answer is rather simple, I just don't plain like them. I have seen them rampage through country sides, I saw them destroy homes and small villages, one time one of those things got into a big town, we had to pay for the cover up. They are chaotic beings that can't think, who knows what they can and will do. And those things cause so much damage; I have a right to not like them."

The group continued once again in silence. They soon found themselves in a large room with a small statue in the middle of it. It was lit up by torches with purple fire. This room seemed to be in perfect condition. The rugs and tapestries were appeared to be just sewed. Anders smirked and walked over to the statue. Anders grabbed the statue and looked around waiting for something to happen.

"So do gems make elaborate traps for their objects or what?" Anders asked confused.

"There will be," Garnet said monotone.

"What?" Anders asked taken off guard.

Suddenly a giant stone guardian dropped from the ceiling. Anders nodded slowly. "Yeah heavy unit fire," Anders said slowly.

A barrage of grenades flew over Anders head. The grenades hit the guardian head on. Bits of stone fell off the guardian body and it looked down at Anders with an offended look. Anders nodded again.

"Gems you're up," Anders said in the same slow way.

Amethyst summoned her whip and wrapped it around one of the guardian's leg and made it fall on the ground. Pearl summoned her weapon and cut its arm off; suddenly Garnet jumped into the air and punched the Guardian in the stomach making it fall apart. The gems smirked as they jumped away. Anders rolled his eyes and started walking away. A loud rumbling noise filled the chamber, everyone looked back to see the guardian reforming. Anders once again nodded.

"Everyone run!" Anders yelled breaking out in a dead sprint.

"So the big bad mercenary can't fight against some rocks," Garnet said playfully.

"I don't have the right gear," Anders shot back.

The group continued to run through the temple, on the attempt to escape the ever approaching stone guardian. A few soldiers tried to shot back at the guardian, but to no avail. One of the soldiers was swatted into a wall by the guardian. Anders picked him up and carried him on his back. Anders growled as the guardian destroyed more the temple. A snake appeared out of a hole and watched the group trying to escape. It hissed at the guardian and returned to its hole. The group ran outside as the guardian escaped the temple. Anders pulled out his device and started talking really fast in a foreign language.

"I called for an extraction it will take a while so if any of you have a plan now would be the time!" Anders yelled as he put the soldier he was carrying behind a rock.

Rose chuckled. "Oh I do," She said with a small smile.

Suddenly a giant vines sprouted out of the ground as pulled the guardian into the ground. The guardian reached a bulky hand into the air as it was pulled down into the earth. Anders looked at the vines in surprise and maintained the look as he looked at the giggling Rose.

"Do you have any other super powers that I need to know what?" Anders asked rhetorically.

"Well I have healing tears, I can form a bubble that can launch my enemies away, I am a master swords gem, I can create sentient plants, give me a moment I can think of a few others," Rose said going into deep thought.

"That is why Rose is so great, she always knows what to do," Pearl said looking up at Rose.

Anders scoffed and looked at the soldier he was carrying. The soldier was crying in a foreign language about something. Anders took off the soldier's armor and stared at a dislocated arm. Anders sighed and some soldiers looked away as the gems looked confused. There was loud popping noise and scream. The gems inhaled sharply at the sight as birds flew away from the jungle. Two helicopters descended into the field around the temple. The soldiers jumped into one of them. The gems stared at the helicopter nervously; Anders made a disgruntled noise and threw Amethyst and Pearl in. Anders glared at the Rose and Garnet who got in by themselves. Rose had a hard time fitting in the metal cabin, Amethyst bounced around the helicopter excitedly as the side doors closed and the helicopter took to the air. Marcus was sitting in the same helicopter with the games. Anders tossed him the statue, Marcus giggled excitedly.

"So how did my mercenaries preform?" Marcus asked excitedly.

"Very well and effectively, but they were a bit brutal," Rose said passing a glance towards Anders.

"How did Anders preform?" Marcus asked quietly.

"He was strong and blunt leader that preformed with brutal efficiency sometimes he went a bit over board," Rose said seriously.

Anders made a quietly mumbled something unpleasant under his breath. "I have suggestion along with his normal mercenary duties how about Anders joins alongside the Crystal Gems to make your jobs easier, Anders is one of the best soldiers we have," Marcus offered with a smile.

Before Anders could speak up his device buzzed, he pulled it and read a message as he read it a smirk appeared on his face. "I am fine with it," Anders said in a grunt.

Rose put a hand to her chin and stared at Marcus. "Along with his help you would have us helping you globally, imagine how easier your job would get. Instead of you teleporting everywhere with only those three backing you up, you would have all of us, what do you say?" Marcus asked sweetening the deal.

Rose went into deep thought after a few minutes, she spoke up. "I agree," She said in a calm tone.

"Rose are you sure about this?" Pearl asked nervously.

"I agree with Rose," Garnet added.

"So angry stubble and old guy will be fighting monsters with us cool," Amethyst said playfully.

"Did that "Greg" cause all these changes that been going on," Pearl whispered a bit jealous.

"Pearl don't worry," Rose whispered back.

The helicopter landed in the clearing where the warp pad was in. Anders and the gems leapt out of the helicopter. Soon enough it flew away into the distance.

"Can you us the warp pad?" Pearl asked as she stepped on the pad.

"Yeah, but the nearest warp pad I can connect to is one mile away from Beach City," Anders said pulling out a map of the world with pillars of light on it.

"Ok meet you there," Rose said disappearing into the warp stream.

Anders stood on the warp pad and pressed a button on the screen of the device. He disappeared in the stream and appeared in the middle of a forest. Anders walked through the edge of the forest to a large cliff. Anders looked down to a small beachside town. The sun was just setting, making a purplish glow fill the sky. The waves slowly crashed against the beach making a small rumbling noise. Angry looking seagulls flew overhead. Anders smiled as he looked at the peaceful scene; he turned his head to a sign that read, "Welcome to Beach City."


	2. Welcome to Beach City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anders wanders into town

Welcome to Beach City:

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Anders and the mercs.)

Anders stared at the peaceful scene that was in front of him with a forlorn look in his eyes. It was perfectly quiet, small pink flower petals fly down the cliff towards the town. A snake's hiss put Anders back into reality as he started walking down the cliff. He walked alongside the road as cars full of teens drove out the town; the smell of salt was in the air. A seagulls loud squawk was heard from overhead, the sun slowly went down leaving the warm purple glow hung over the town. As Anders walked into town he saw small children playing and calm music being played in the distance, he looked down and saw all the weapons he was carrying and quickly ditched them in a nearby dumpster. After that he continued to walk down the streets of the quaint town. He pulled out his device and headphones and listened to music as he wandered through the calm streets. After a while the sun finally went down and Anders found himself looking at the beach. The waves went back with the low tide. He blankly stared at the see for a while.

"How could this place exist?" Anders asked no one.

"Yay it's something right," A person said out of nowhere.

Anders quickly turned around and grabbed the figure and threw him into the ground. "Oww," The guy moaned as he sat up.

"Sorry you startled me," Anders deadpanned as he helped the guy up.

"No problem, names Greg by the way," Greg said as he put out his hand.

Anders shook Greg's hand. "Anders," He said sharply.

"I saw you wandering around town, you looked lonely," Greg said with a little chuckle.

"Lonely," Anders repeated confused.

"Yay, you were just wandering around aimlessly I thought you were lost," Greg said.

"Eh I was just surprised I haven't seen a place this nice since my farm up north," Anders said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"So what brings you to town?" Greg asked honestly interested.

"I am looking for the base of the Crystal Gems," Anders said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Oh them I know where that is," Greg said casually.

"Really," Anders skeptically raised an eyebrow.

"Yay come on follow me," Greg started to walk up the beach.

Anders scoffed and followed Greg down the beach. Greg hopped over a fence and fell on to the sand on the other side of it. Anders made a disgruntled noise as he pulled out a small device that looked light a miniature hacksaw. A bright red light formed the "blade" of the hacksaw. Anders placed the hacksaw in a little hole in the fence and cut a hole through the fence. Greg started at the hole as Anders put the hacksaw in his pocket.

"What was that?" Greg asked surprised.

Anders made a disgruntled noise and continued to walk down the beach. He stopped in his tracks as he stared at a broken down van with an interesting paint job, he then looked up at giant statue of a multi-armed woman. The statue was falling apart and missing some arms and hands, in the middle of it was a moderately sized cave. Anders sighed and walked up to the cave, were two of the gems were sitting. He tapped the wall of the cave getting Pearl and Garnet's attention.

"Nice hole you got here," Anders said sarcastically.

"It took you long enough to get here," Pearl said with a glare.

"Doesn't look like I missed anything," Anders said as he pulled out a knife.

"What's that for?" Pearl asked suspiciously.

Anders didn't respond as he walked towards the warp pad. He pulled out his device and scanned the warp pad. A small rectangular hatch was highlighted on the pad; Anders pried it open showing a large number of wires that were inside of pad.

"What are you doing to our warp pad?" Pearl yelled as she walked towards him.

Garnet held her back as Anders pulled out a wire and plugged it his device. Suddenly a large holographic globe appeared out of one the camera openings. Multiply pillars of light formed on the globe and then suddenly disappeared. Anders closed the hatch and put the knife and device away. He then sat at the edge of the cave and stared at the ocean.

"What were you doing?" Pearl asked still confused and a bit angry about what was Anders doing.

"Classified," Anders replied sharply. "So where is your leader?"

"Rose is inside of the temple," Garnet answered monotone.

"What temple?" Anders asked as he stared at the near empty cave.

Garnet simply pointed at a door in the back of the cave. Anders stared at the door confused. "It's bigger on the inside," Garnet said casually.

Anders nodded. "So what are we waiting for?" Anders asked out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked taken off guard by the sudden question.

"Why aren't we doing mission prep, research, or looking for places where relics or monster could be?" Anders asked surprised by how casual it was.

"We don't really do any of that stuff, we just wait for Rose to tell us when the next mission is," Pearl said Rose's name admiringly.

Anders scoffed at the way she said Rose. Pearl glared at Anders for his scoff. "What did I do something wrong?" Pearl asked maintaining her glare.

"No it is just the way you say her name, it's very devoted," Anders said not looking back at Pearl.

"Well of course I would do anything for her," Pearl said a little bit out of it.

"That's a problem," Anders whispered to himself.

"What did you say?" Pearl asked her glare returning.

"It is problem, don't you know that today's good could be tomorrow's evil," Anders said returning the glare.

"What does that have to do with Rose?" Pearl asked getting angrier.

"All I am saying you sound too devoted to her," Anders replied calmly.

"Why shouldn't I. She saved this planet, she saved thousands, she won the war, and she is the reason why you are here. And I am honored just to work alongside her!" Pearl yelled angry.

"Devoting isn't a bad thing, but what if she became tomorrow's evil or something worse, what if she just up and disappeared," Anders stood up letting a small smirk form. "What would you do then, there is believing in your leader and then there is being a puppet."

Before Pearl could open her mouth the temple doors opened. In the door frame majestically stood Rose Quartz. A bright pink light emitted from behind her as she entered the small cave. A calm, cool beach wind filled the sky.

Rose simply smiled as she stared down at Anders. "That is a good point Anders, but we must believe in the better side of anything's nature," Rose said joining the conversation. "Nothing in this world is inherently evil, nor can change within a day. We must hope that our past enemies become our friends before we worry about the things that the future holds and if we are wondering we could just ask Garnet."

Anders glared at her and scoffed. "No one asked for your opinion," Anders shot back.

"I think I can have a say in a conversation about me," Rose said with a little giggle.

Anders growled as Pearl smirked from behind Rose. "I am going out into town I will be there if you actually will be doing something productive," Anders said as left the cave.

Anders stuck his hands in his pockets and pulled out a small radio. He threw it on the roof of the cave as he walked out. It stuck to the cave roof; Anders smirked as he sat in the sand by the beach. He pulled out a handgun he had hidden under his shirt and stared at it. He pulled out a cloth and started to clean the handgun; he eventually sighed and put the gun back under his shirt.

"I wish I was at base," Anders groaned as he lied back in the sand.

Anders turned around and saw Greg digging through the beaten down van. Anders walked up to him and stared at the clustered mess inside the van with disgust.

"Oh hey dude how are you?" Greg asked with a smile.

"Eh it could be worse, is there a bar in town?" Anders asked as he looked at Beach City.

"Yeah it's right down the board walk," Greg turned around to see Anders already gone.

Anders walked down the board walk listening to music. Waves slowly hit the sand bars, everything was silent. Only a few people stumbled down the street making the town feel empty. Everything was quiet as Anders stood outside a dive bar with a pale neon sign. He walked into a moderately filled bar with a stage on the east wall. On the stage was a guy wearing a blue suit playing a piano. Anders sat at the bar counter.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked.

"Just a cup of water," Anders said as he listened to the piano.

The bartender walked away as Anders looked at the décor of bar. There were broken neon signs strung along the wall, along with some black and white photos of people. The wood of the building was falling apart and most of the tables were hastily put together. Anders smiled a little bit at the certain charm the building had. The bartender walked back to Anders and gave him a cup of water.

"Haven't seen you in town before," The bartender said as he cleaned some glasses.

"Eh I just got in town for a job," Anders said casually.

"What kind of work you do?" The bartender asked with a raised eyebrow.

Anders tensed up. "Umm I am an archeologist," Anders quickly lied.

"Really you think there could be something under our town?" The bartender asked getting interested.

"Possibility I don't know for sure yet I just got here," Anders shrugged nervously.

"Well if I was going to be digging around I would go by this old temple at the edge of the beach," The bartender said in a whisper.

Anders raised an eyebrow interested. "What do you mean?" Anders returned the whisper.

The bartender look head darted left and right. "Well I walking down the beach with my son Jamie and I saw all kinds of crazy stuff," The bartender whispered nervously. "Everybody in town is terrified by that temple, they say they see these giant women fighting monsters and glowing lights and magical stuff."

"How long have you known about this place?" Anders carefully probed for information.

"Near everyone in town knows about it or heard about, we are trying to keep our kids away from it. The supernatural isn't something to mess," The bartender shrived a little bit.

Anders smirked a little bit. "That is where we might differ my friend," Anders said with a slight chuckle.

"What do you mean?" The bartender asked confused.

"There is nothing supernatural in this world just science we cannot comprehend yet, if we fear we don't understand we won't advance. To evolve we must constantly face the quote on quote supernatural and find new ways to handle it," Anders smiled as he said those words.

"That's pretty smart," The bartender said dumb struck.

"I heard it for a friend," Anders shrugged.

"Well how is Beach City treating you?" The bartender asked getting back in reality.

"Real nice place, if my farm wasn't so nice I might move my family down here," Anders said as the music from the piano stopped playing.

Anders clapped a little bit and put some money in the piano players jar. Anders walked outside into the warm summer night. He leaned against the railing of the boardwalk and stared at the sea. He yawned and rubbed his eyes when suddenly a loud rumbling came from the forest outside of town. Anders groaned and walked to a dumpster. He pulled out his weapons from the dumpster and walked towards the forest. He stood at the edge of the forest, the rumbling had stopped and the forest went quiet again. A few leaves fell from the trees as Anders walked through the dark empty forest. A snake treaded alongside Anders as he held his shotgun. Waiting for something to come out of the darkness. A lone owl landed on a nearby branch, only to be swept away into the darkness. Anders quickly pointed his gun at where the owl used to be, when suddenly the snake hissed uncontrollably as a loud howl filled the peaceful air. Anders quickly turned around and saw a dark blue monkey with four arms charging at him as it swung from tree to tree. Anders shot a round at the approaching beast, only for it to dodge the bullets by jumping to another tree. The monkey disappeared in the darkness once again as Anders stumbled backwards. The snake coiled itself up as the loud howl was heard again. Anders stood ready as the monkey jumped out of the trees and into the air howling madly. Anders smirked as he pointed he shotgun upwards. The monkey stopped howling and stared at the gun as he made his descend. Anders repeatedly shot at the monkey, all hits landing. The beast pitiful tried to grab on to something as it plummeted to the ground. The monkey quickly took to its feet and proudly howled as it charged towards Anders wildly. Anders smirk disappeared and was replaced with a look of respect as he shot one final round into the beast. It then poofed and he picked up the gem and placed it in a metal canister. The snake slithered away and disappeared into the dark forest. Anders sighed and returned to the "temple". As he entered through the hole he made he saw Greg and Rose hugging looking at the stares. Once more Anders had a forlorn look, but that quickly disappeared as he the cave. Pearl stared at Greg and Rose jealously, Anders decided to ignore it and lean against a wall with Garnet. Garnet noticed the metal canister in Anders hand.

"Where did you find that?" Garnet asked showing slight interest.

"In your own backyard, this little thing was running wild in the forest right outside of town," Anders replied sharply.

"Hmm good work," Garnet said giving a thumb up.

"What you thought I would be useless," Anders said getting angry for no reason.

"Never said that," Garnet replied monotone.

Anders stared at her confused and then sighed. "I am going to turn this in," Ander disappeared in a warp stream.


	3. White Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walking through a dead wonderland

A White Forest

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect Anders and the mercs.)

Anders was lying back in the sand of the beach staring into the sky. Birds flew overhead filling the empty sky; their occasional squawks broke the painful silence. The sun hung over the town, beating down warm rays making it extremely hot. Not even the cool summer breeze can stop the heat. The ocean, the town, perhaps the world was completely still. Anders was wearing a white tank top and green camouflage pants; his bandana was in the sand right next to him. He looked like he was dead; he suddenly made a disgruntled noise and rolled in the sand. He eventually hit something; Anders looked up and saw Garnet towering over him. Anders scoffed and sat up.

"What are you doing?" Garnet asked.

"Being driven to madness from the boredom, we haven't done anything productive in over two weeks. If it wasn't for my trips to base and being shipped to Africa for raids I would've gone insane," Anders said with a growl. "What are we even waiting for?"

Garnet shrugged and Anders sighed. Garnet seemed to disappear and Anders went back to staring at nothing. He couldn't tell what would get to him first the heat or boredom; he pulled out his handgun and shot at a few of the birds. After a while Anders sighed and put away the gun. The silence was painful; it was soon replaced with a loud buzzing noise. Anders pulled out his device and opened the holographic screen. Anders quickly screened through the message he got and walked up to the cave. He opened up the duffle bag he had up in the cave and put on his military gear and put on his bandana. Anders grunted and waited for the gems to leave their temple. The four exited the temple and stared at the decked out Anders confused.

"Anders we don't have a mission today," Rose said confused.

Anders glared at them and threw his device at them. Rose tapped on the holographic screened confused, the screen turned bright red and the device made a loud beep noise. Amethyst freaked out and turned into a golf club and hit the device away. Anders sighed and picked it up and put it away. Anders stood on the warp pad and motioned for the gems to get on it. The gems got on the pad still confused (expect for Garnet). Anders pulled up a large holographic globe and pressed on one of the pillars of light. The warp pad activated and he and the gems were brought in a pure white forest. All the plant life was pure white. The trees were large and misshapen; the trees were stretched into weird and awkward shapes. The small animals were also the same pure white as the plants. It was deathly silent; it made the forest fell hollow and dead. Suddenly a thin cloud of fog covered the forest. The grass withered and leaves fell off the trees making the forest became paler. The animals coughed and suddenly collapsed. Rose gasped as the sight of the forest and Anders put on a gas mask. Just south of the warp pad the trees formed the shape of a tunnel, Anders signaled the gems to follow him through "tunnel". The grass crunched under Anders boot as the group continued down the dark tunnel. Bits of tree bark fell off the tree and hit the ground, in the distance was the sounds of trees falling. As soon as the group got out the tunnel they were met with the sight of an already set up base camp. Soldiers wearing gas masked flocked to Anders and saluted them. Anders led the gems up a hill to the largest tent, inside it was Marcus and a squad of researchers. Their spoke in quiet mumbles and reviewed the data that their machines were spitting out. Marcus turned around and wheeled himself over to Anders and the gems. Anders saluted and sat down on a box.

"Ah Rose it is great to see you again, but I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances," Marcus said in serious terms.

"I feel the same way Marcus, but there are more pressing concerns. How did this forest get in such a condition?" Rose asked concerned.

"Yes it started about two days ago; we were requested to kill a corrupt gem in the area. I sent in a small squad, it was supposed to be a simple mission in and out. But after a while the squad returned saying that something was very wrong. I went into to investigate and we found the forest slowly dying, under strange circumstances," Marcus explained as he pulled out a file.

"But no corrupt gem would have an ability like this," Rose said going into deep thought.

"Yes we figured that out, but about three years ago we found a gem facility that was researching chemical weapons. We closed it up and destroyed the research, but we suspect the corrupt gem had traces of the formula on it. Though we were monitoring this forest before and there were no signs of a corrupt gem until now," Marcus said as he handed out the file.

"So what is the plan?" Anders asked as he skimmed through the file.

"Well since it is only one corrupt gem it won't take much manpower to take it down so we will just send you and the gems in with a helicopter," Marcus said as he called in a helicopter.

"Got it," Anders nodded.

Anders and the gems were about to step out. "Wait Anders can I speak with you alone?" Marcus asked out of nowhere.

"Umm yeah sure," Anders said taken off guard.

The gems walked out of the tent. "So how is your stay with the gems been?" Marcus asked brightening up a little bit.

"Boring as heck, they do nothing. No research, no training, no mission prep, nothing at all for aliens they are pretty boring," Anders said with a groan.

Marcus chuckled. "Well you haven't missed much over here," Marcus said trying to cheer him up.

"When I'm over here I have people to talk to. Garnet rarely speaks, Amethyst can barely make a competent thought, and all my talks with Pearl end in fights," Anders said with a sigh.

"What about Rose Quartz?" Marcus asked getting more interested.

"You know for the savior of the human race, she doesn't really interact with them and when she does she treats them like toys or children. I get angry listening to her," Anders growled a little bit.

"So have you found a way to get into their temple yet?" Marcus asked getting more serious.

"Not yet, they guard the place like a hawk. I can get in, but it will take a while. Next time they go on a mission I will hang back and try to get in then," Anders said returning the tone.

"Good now get out there," Marcus said as he heard the helicopter descend.

Anders saluted and walked out of the tent. The gems waved to Anders from the helicopter, Anders only growled as he hopped into the cabin. The helicopter quickly took off and headed towards the east end of the forest. The fog became denser as the helicopter hovered around. The skyline was covered in thick clouds, it made the sky look gray and bleak. It was silent the only noise was the helicopter's blades. Anders closed his eyes and dozed off. After a little while a loud roar filled the ear, Anders eyes darted opened. He looked out the window and saw the outline of a giant creature with bright glowing eyes flying through the dense fog. The gems had a look of surprise on their faces as they looked through the windows. Anders opened the cabin door and sat along the edge of the frame. The Gatling gun that was attached to the helicopter moved over to him. Anders grabbed the handles and waited for something. The gems looked out the windows and summoned their weapons. Everything went deathly quiet again and the outline of the beast disappeared in the fog. The helicopter hovered in place; Anders gulped nervously as he tightened his grip. Out nowhere a loud roar filled the sky and the beast hit the helicopter from the other side of Anders. The impact hit the helicopter in full force causing it to crash.

"May day, may day this is Morpho going down!" The pilot screamed as they fell.

The Gatling gun retracted making Anders fall out. The gems jumped out the crashing helicopter and grabbed Anders mid-fall. The helicopter crashed making a small explosion, the smoke pierced through the fog. The gems landed making dust fly everywhere. Anders pulled away from the gems and ran towards the crash site. He stood still as he neared it and stared at the destruction. Scraps of metal were everywhere and little fires grew everywhere. The grass was burnt and the ground was torn, Anders then looked at the remains of the helicopter. The tail of it was broken off and the blades were broken. The glass from the windows shattered under Anders boots as he got closer to the pilots door. He pried it open and Morpho's body fell out of his seat and fell on the ground, Anders leaned down and looked at him. His body was burnt and ripped up and riddled with shards of glass, his neck snapped out of place. Morpho's blood was already dry; Anders took off Morpho's gasmask and closed his eyes and pulled a patch off his uniform. Anders sighed sadly and shook his head; suddenly someone tapped him on the back. Startled Anders pulled out his handgun and pointed it at who was behind him. Rose gasped silently when the gun was pointed at her. Anders noticed the gems and put the gun away.

"Was he a friend?" Rose asked quietly.

"Yup Morpho was the best pilot we had, he served under my division so we saw each other a lot. Guy's kid works with us I wonder how I can break it to him," Anders said sadly as he stood up.

"I am so sorry," Rose apologized sounded a bit disheartened.

"It's ok; it comes with the line of work. We all knew this could happen to any of us at some point," Anders said as he dug through the crash.

"We could put off the mission and let someone else deal with it," Pearl offered sharing the same sad tone.

Anders didn't stop rummaging. "That's not needed," Anders said. "I want to get that monster myself," Anders pulled out a large box.

"What's that," Rose asked confused.

Anders chuckled. "Payback," Anders opened the box and pulled out a rocket launcher. "Come on we got a monster to hunt."

He started to walk off, the gems soon joined him. Garnet walked forward and joined Anders at the front.

"So you are you really ok?" Garnet asked sounding a bit concerned.

"Yeah this isn't my first time," Anders replied sounding more like his normal self.

"Good we don't want you to go off the deep end yet," Garnet said with a small smirk.

"With you three it will happen sooner or later," Anders said shrugging his shoulders.

Suddenly he was tackled from behind and something tugged at the rocket launcher. "This is so cool what does it do?" Amethyst asked excitedly.

"In short hand blow stuff up," Anders said with a smirk.

"Awesome can I see?" Amethyst asked wide eyed.

"Soon enough," Anders said his smirk growing.

"Can I shoot it?" Amethyst asked growing more excited.

"No," Ander replied taking her off his back.

Anders sighed and started to listen to music. The forest was dead, the animals passed out or already dead. There was no a single sound, the forest was still and empty. The trees withered in front of their eyes. In the distance the smoke from the crash disappeared. The fog was extremely dense; the only light was the dim glow of Anders device. The grass got worse as the group continued to wander, with every step the grass was replaced with dirt. The rocks cracked and crumbled, dead leaves blew in the wind. One landed in the palm of Anders hand, a frown formed on his face as the gust made the leaf hit the ground. He looked up at the sky and stared at the wind trying to push the fog away, but to avail. He sighed and continued the trudge. The clouds were still extremely dense making it impossible to tell what time it was. The only colors for miles were white and gray, with the expectation of the gems and Anders. A large shadow flew over the group; they looked up and saw the figure of a large moth. The figure hovered for a brief moment and then flew off towards the west. Anders glared in that direction and pulled out his assault rifle. The group eventually arrived outside a large cliff side riddled with holes and tunnels. The cliff side seemed withered and cracked like the rest of the forests. Rocks fell off cliff making dust fly through the clouded sky. Anders grip on his assault rifle tightened as he entered a tunnel with the gems. Their gems glowed making it a bit easier to see, Anders muttered something about flashlights as they climbed upwards through the tunnels. The sounds of rocks falling filled the empty system of caves. After a while a gray light shone through the cave, the group followed the light outside to a large field of flowers. Every flower looked near death and was the same pale white as the rest of the plant life. Rose frowned at the sight of the withering flowers. The flowers were a strange array of wildflowers. The fog suddenly grew denser and loud screech filled the air. Anders and the gems turned around to see large glowing yellow eyes glaring at them. Anders shot swiftly making the beast become disorientated and Amethyst summoned her whip (the other gems as well summoned their weapons) pulled it out into the open. The beast was a giant ugly moth it's hissed and screeched loudly. Garnet leapt into the air and hit it in the head making it smash into the ground. The beast only got louder and charged at Anders and Pearl. The two braced for impact, Rose suddenly appeared into front of the two and summoned her giant version of her shield. The moth hit its head on the shield instantly making it disorientated. Rose's shield disappeared and Pearl leapt into the air and smashed the face of the moth making it cry out in pain. The moth snapped back into reality and looked at Anders who had the rocket launcher pointed at its face. The illusion of fear appeared on the beasts face as Anders shot off the missile. The moth tried to fly away; buts it wings were pinned down by two spears thrown by Pearl. A large smile formed on Anders face as the missile hit the beast in head. The gem poofed as soon as it was consumed by a large explosion, as soon as the beast died the fog disappeared and the forest returned to normal colors, but what was already dead remained that way. The flowers turned blue as Anders walked towards the pure white gem. He pulled off his gas mask and threw it in the flowers; he then leaned down and held the gem in the palm of his hand. He felt the urge to smash it, but resisted the urge and placed it in a metal canister.

"Do you feel better?" Pearl surprisingly asked.

"Yay a little bit, but it won't bring back Morpho," Anders said as he stared blankly off into the distance.

"I know how it feels we lost many gems during the war," Pearl said in a sad tone. "But at least we won."

"Winning doesn't matter," Anders said as he stared at his gasmask. "Never thought Morpho would out like that."  
Anders only sighed and pulled out a flare gun and shot it into the air. After a little while a helicopter landed in the field. Anders looked down on his gasmask as the helicopter took off. Marcus looked at him with a frown.

"So how did the mission go without the causality report please?" Marcus asked Rose.

"We dealt with the gem if that is what you are asking," Rose said.

Anders tossed the canister to Marcus. "We will make sure this gem won't be able to spread the weapon before we give it you," Marcus assured as he put the canister in his pocket. "Though there are bigger concerns."

The gems stared at him confused. "How did this gem get here and how was it spreading the weapon?" Marcus asked no one in particular.

Everyone remained silent since there was no answer at the time. The flight back to the make shift base was long and tedious. Anders cleaned and reloaded his guns while they waited. After a while the helicopter landed, the camp was being took apart and soldiers started to walk towards the warp pad. Marcus was lifted out of the helicopter as the gems and Anders leapt out of it. As it flew away Anders walked to a young blonde man wearing sunglasses. The young man snapped into a salute and stared at the commander confused. Anders pulled out the patch he took from Morpho's uniform and put it into the man's hand. The young man was taken aback, his lips quivered with fear and sadness. The young man burst into tears and tightly held the patch. He fell on to his knees.

Anders leaned down and patted him on the back. "It's ok Pequod," Anders said with a sigh. "We all lose someone; you have off the next two weeks off."

Anders shook his head and walked off.


	4. At the Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More badly done corrupt gems

At the Edge

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect Anders and the mercs)

Anders sat at the edge of the cave; he looked down at the sea. The waves crashed against the sandbar loudly, the noise traveled across the calm night sky. Small clouds peacefully drifted through the empty sky. Anders tapped the ground repeatedly; his eyes had bags under them and his breath reeked of coffee. He lied back on the sleeping bag he had step up in the cave, while lying down at turned to a wall with the word weeks on it and a six tally marks. He closed his eyes for a brief moment suddenly his device buzzed loudly. His eyes darted open angrily pulled out the device and opened the holographic screen. It was the third message today; Anders groaned loudly and rubbed his temples. He looked out at the raging sea and Beach City he turned back and knocked on the temple door. The bottom two gems opened and the gems exited the burning room.

"Forth one in these last three days," Anders groaned as he read the message, he walked over to a new box and opened it.

"This is strange, yes there are many corrupt gems, but they never reveal themselves this frequently," Rose said while rubbing her chin.

"So where are we going this time?" Amethyst asked while she yawned loudly.

Anders pulled out a desert camo version of his uniform. "A giant crater with jagged rocks in it," Anders said he walked outside of the cave to put his uniform.

The gems had a shocked look on their face as Anders walked out, followed by an uneasy silence. He disappeared down the beach; Pearl, Rose, and Garnet looked at each other a bit nervously, while Amethyst looked confused.

"What happened there?" Amethyst asked confused by the uneasy atmosphere.

"During the gem wars a giant battle took place there, before it was crater it was a large research facility doing strange experiments. It was one of our biggest victories, but at the cost of thousands among thousands of gems," Pearl said looked dazed and scared.

A more nervous and uneasy looked formed on her face. "It was horrific some gems turned corrupted right in front of us," Pearl continued quietly.

Rose held Pearls shoulder and calmed her down. "How did it become a crater?" Amethyst asked ignoring the scene.

"We don't know in the middle of the battle the facility disappeared and the ground under us blew up," Garnet said monotone. "We should keep this secret from Anders; it would be dangerous for those mercenaries to be there."

"Dangerous to who?" Amethyst asked surprised be Garnet saying this.

"I am not sure about that yet," Garnet said quietly.

The radio on top of the cave's roof flashed a red dot repeatedly. "Once again the gems failed to cover their tracks," Anders said as he sat on a rock down the beach listening to the gems conversation.

He was already dressed in the new uniform and smirked. "I heard some of Marcus's favorite words he would love to hear this," Anders sent a recording of their conversation to Marcus.

Anders took once last look at the toiling sea and then walked back to the cave. He sighed quietly and drifted into deep thought. He remembered the fear in the gems voices. Anders frowned and thought back to something, his head was somewhere else. He did not even realize where he was going; he suddenly walked into Garnet and fell on the ground. Garnet smirked and pulled him up, Anders made a disgruntled noise and dusted himself off. The group walked on top of the warp pad and disappeared. In the middle of the stream Ander put a second bandana over his mouth and some goggles on. The group arrived in a barren wasteland. Large jagged rocks touched the sky, they looked old and withered. Broken stones covered the ground. There was no sign of life, no trees or animals only a devastating scene. Weapons were scattered and stretched across the former battle field. Anders stepped forward and heard something ruffle under his foot, he looked down and saw a tattered and ripped flag with a rose on it. The ground was nothing but cracked dried dirt. A warm wind blew dust through the air. Anders turned around and saw a large frown on Rose and the rest of the gems faces. He sighed and crouched down; he saw a large paw print in the dust. It disappeared in a breeze. Anders watched the dust dance through the sky for a moment. Anders took off his goggles and put on some night vision ones, he pulled out his assault rifle and the group started to move out. An awkward silence filled the air as they wandered through the crater. The sky was brown due to the constant stream of dust and dirt. Anders stared at some of the weapons swords, axes, and spears ranging in sizes, most of them were broken.

"I got to hand it to you gems your warfare is pretty insane stuff," Anders said as he picked up a giant helmet.

The gems remained silent. "The battle for this place must have been one hell hole," Anders continued as he dropped the helmet.

"It was," Rose said quietly.

Anders frowned. "You must've fought all over the place," Anders said as he looked down the crater.

"So have you, where have you fought?" Rose asked trying to get the focus off them.

"The Gulf war and Colombia come to mind, but those were my earliest major conflicts. Some revolutions in Africa and take downs of Drug Lords all over. Cleaning up some mess across the middle east and whole bunch of other stuff," Anders listed off.

He turned around and saw the gems staring at him confused. "What's a Gulf war," Amethyst asked loudly.

"I don't have the time to explain it to you," Anders sighed.

"So how many corrupt gems are here?" Pearl asked while clearing her throat trying to hide she was confused.

Anders shrugged. "All the reports said that there was multiply signs of corrupt gems," Anders said as he reread the report.

Suddenly a look of surprise appeared on the gems faces. Anders looked at them strangely. Pearl pointed to something behind him. Anders turned around and saw a giant purple four arm gorilla towered behind him. A shocked look appeared on his Anders face as he was thrown into a rock. Anders groaned loudly as the ape howled loudly and pounded on the ground. A dazed look appeared on Anders face as he tried to stand up. He used his rifle to prop himself up, the gems summoned theirs weapons and charged at the ape. Pearl leapt towards the apes chest and tried to stab it. The ape howled loudly and waited for her.

"Pearl dodge!" Anders yelled as he continued to try to stand.

The ape caught her in mid-air and threw her into the same rock Anders was thrown into. He laughed a little bit, Pearl responded with a glare. The ape howled wildly and proudly, Garnet sucker punched the ape in the stomach pushing the ape backwards a little bit. The ape growled and threw punch at her; Garnet caught the giant fist with both of her hands. This left her opened one of the monkeys extra fists hit Garnet sending her flying backwards. The ape laughed and pointed at an angry Garnet. Suddenly a whip wrapped around the apes neck and pulled it to the ground. Rose pulled out her sword and climbed on top of its chest. Anders face palmed before the ape grabbed Rose and smashed her into Pearl. The ape roared and grabbed the whip and pulled it off his neck. He twirled the whip and Amethyst in the air. Amethyst made her whip disappear and fall into the ground.

"Why can't any of you dodge!" Anders yelled getting louder on the word dodge.

"You didn't!" Pearl shot back.

"I am not an immortal space alien with super powers am I!" Anders yelled as the ape howled loudly.

Anders finally stood up and shot at the ape. The howled in pain and anger. His fur spiked up and got messier. The ape took the shots like nothing and charged at Anders. He gulped loudly as the ape approached. Suddenly a giant white wolf with crimson eyes appeared out the dust storm and tackled the ape down. The ape howled and struggled under the wolf. The wolf howled and small white wolves appeared, the sucker punched the wolf in the jaw and threw it into a rock. The ape took to his feet and started to throw the smaller wolves away. The gems were shocked at the sight of the corrupted gems fighting. Anders laughed as the beasts went at it; suddenly a loud caw filled the sky. A monstrous bird like creature with five whip like tails, it dropped down and clawed at the ape. The wolf leapt into the air and bite down on the bird. Anders pulled out his device and started to record the fight.

"This is unnatural," Rose said as the ape flung the wolf over their heads.

"How so?" Anders asked not looking away from the fight.

"There shouldn't be so many corrupt gems here," Rose said as a small humanoid crab monster joined the fight. "As well as they are more violent and stronger than usual."  
"How can you be sure?" Anders asked skeptically.

The crab monster leapt into the air and slashed the apes' chest. "There is clear power deference with most corrupt gems, like a corrupt Peridot could rarely ever be a corrupt Jasper or Zircon, but all these corrupt gems seem to be on equal level," Rose stated as the wolf smacked the crab into a rock.

"And that ape took a good hit from all of us he should've poofed," Anders said getting more suspicious.

"That doesn't mean anything to me I'll beat them all," Garnet said as she cracked her knuckles.

"Yeah!" Amethyst high fived her.

The two walked forward, but Anders blocked them with his rifle. "Wait we should let them duke it out let them get weaker and poof each and maybe call for back up," Anders said as the bird lifted the ape into the air and dropped it into the ground.

"I agree," Rose said as she sat on the ground.

Garnet and Amethyst pouted and sat on the ground. "Come on it won't take too long," Anders said with a sigh.

A large snake burrowed out of the ground and bit the wolf's leg. "Never mind," Anders sighed once again.

After ten minutes of senseless bashing the bird monster poof, Amethyst quickly grabbed the gem and a syringe looking device off the ground and brought it to the gems. Anders scanned the syringe and sent a photo to Marcus.

"So what is this?" Anders asked as he poked at the syringe.

"It looks similar to an injector at the kindergarten," Pearl said a bit surprised.

"Maybe these things increase their strength," Anders watched the crab throw the wolf into the ground.

"It is too early to say, but we should bubble it," Rose picked up the syringe and bubbled it.

A bullet pierced the bubble. "Or give it to the scientists to research it," Anders place the syringe in a bag attached to his belt. "You can keep the bird though."

The ape screeched loudly and held the crab in the air. The ape ripped it in half and howled proudly. The snake bit the wolf's leg and poisoned it. The wolf returned the favor and bit the snake and whipped it through the air. Both poofed each other, the ape smiled and smashed the ground near the gems. The ground under them collapsed, the gems leapt into the air escaping the collapse, Anders failed his arms in the air and screamed as he fell into a cavern. A rock fell over on its side covering the hole. Anders screams were silenced by the rock, the ape howled loudly and pounded on its chest. The gems looked at the hole shocked and then glared at the ape. The ape seemed to have a smile on his face.

"You thought that was funny?" Amethyst growled, the ape continued to howl.

Garnet charged forward and punched the ape in the jaw. The ape stared at Garnet shocked and offended. The ape charged at Garnet, but suddenly fell on the ground. Ape looked back and saw one of its legs chopped off, Pearl stood in its place twirling her spear. The ape crawled and climbed on to one of the giant rocks, howling in pain. Amethyst's whip tor the ape off the rock and smashed it into the ground. Garnet leapt into the air and smashed the apes' stomach in. The ape coughed and poofed, just then everything went quiet. The only sound was the wind blowing through the desert land. The dust flew through the air; the gems bubbled the ape's gem and sent it to the temple. The ground rumbled, out of a cloud of dust stood a towering monstrous spider. The gems sighed and summoned their weapons, but the spider poofed out of nowhere. In the distance were sounds of other corrupt gems poofing. The gems quickly bubbled the gems and slowly walked back to the warp pad. Everything was quiet, the dust cleared and the night sky was calm. Once again there was nothing living inside of the crater. As the gems got closer to the warp pad, they heard music playing. A surprised look formed on their faces as they ran towards the pad. Sitting on top of it was Anders staring at the sky.

"Sorry you must have been worried," Anders said as he stood up.

He winced and grabbed his arm. The gems looked at him shocked. "Anders…how…how did you survive?" Pearl asked getting out of shock.

"I fell in some water," Anders replied casually.

Garnet walked up to him and gave him a thumbs up, Anders only smirked. "How about you all head out I got to check in with base," Anders said as he pulled out his device.

"Yeah when you get back you got to tell me the full story," Amethyst said as they disappeared in the warp stream.

A serious look appeared on Anders face as soon as the gems disappeared. The warp pad glowed and helicopters descended into the crater. A groups of soldiers and scientists filled the area. Marcus and an old man wearing a brown trench coat stepped out of a warp stream. Anders saluted to the old man.

"At ease Commander, you better have a good reason to drag us out here," The old man growled.

"Yes I do twentieth follow me," Anders said walking down the crater.

"This better be good," Twentieth said as he lit a cigarette.

"Trust me sir, Anders hasn't failed me yet," Marcus said as he coughed because of the smoke.

Anders led the large group down a cave. As they walked the stone walls turned into decrypted and dirty gem walls. The scientists stared in amazement, while Twentieth merely rolled his eyes. Anders led them into a large room with multiply experiments set out. He tapped on a computer panel and it lit up.

"A perfectly working gem computer with its research intact and experiments still lied out and to add a cherry on top it was logged in yesterday," Anders said with a smirk.

"Who was it?" Marcus asked breathlessly.

"A Lord Black Opal number 28976," Anders said. "Some of the logs are encrypted though."

"Can I have that syringe you sent a picture of?" Marcus asked still out of it.

Anders tossed it to him. "I got to hand it to you finding a research facility and a possible rouge gem nice work Anders," Twentieth said chuckling a bit.

"Just doing my job sir," Anders said still with a smirk.

The three stared at the large glowing screen. "So what did you find out from the computer while you were on?" Marcus asked snapping back into reality.

"Apparently that Black Opal was testing a certain type of chemical that was supposed to increase gems strength, but that was it," Anders said shrugging.

"We need to find him as quickly as possible; we don't want some insane gem mutating monsters," Twentieth said.

"Yes sir," Anders and Marcus saluted.


	5. Farm Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are now cows

Farm Days

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders buttoned the last button on the red flannel shirt he was wearing. He got off the rock he was sitting on and dusted off his jeans and put on his work boots. Anders put his duffle bag on his back and walked into the empty cave. He smirked and pulled out his device. He walked on top of the warp and realized his bandana was still on. He put his device (the screen was on) on a nearby box and put the bandana in his pocket. The sound of something being moved suddenly filled the cave. Anders pulled out his handgun from under his shirt and looked around. He noticed nothing was there and mumbled something about paranoia under his breath; he put his gun and picked up his device. Anders disappeared into a warp stream; he appeared in a large forest. The forest was alive, birds flew around and small animals roamed the ground. The sun hung in the air motionless. It wasn't too hot though, the forest was cooled by a constant breeze. Anders smiled and breathed in the fresh air. His long hair was done and flew in the air because his bandana was gone. He hummed a little bit as began to walk through the forest. The tall oak trees touched the sky, but still a lot of light entered the forest. It seemed to be untouched by time. Ander eventually walked out the forest and entered a large field. Cows mooed in the distance; Ander hopped over a fence and looked at a big farm house. It was very old looking; the paint was old and turning white and the chimney was missing a few bricks, around it was a giant red barn, and a chicken coop. Anders smile grew bigger as he approached the house. He stood nearby the porch and stared at the door excitedly. Suddenly a branch behind him broke and he turned around saw something blur behind a chicken coop. A pale skinny arm hung around the edge of the coop. Anders sighed and face palmed.

"Ok you idiots come out I know it is you," Anders said with a groan.

The crystal gems walked out from behind the chicken coop ashamed. "Sorry Anders we thought this was a mission," Rose said a bit embarrassed.

"Why would I be dressed in civilian clothes and under armed if this was a mission?" Anders asked as he held on to the bridge of his nose.

"A stealth mission," Pearl said trying to cover for Rose.

Garnet smirked a little. "You knew this was going to happen didn't you?" Amethyst asked laughing.

Garnet didn't respond. "You all were being nosey what are you children!" Anders yelled finally pissed off.

"Anders is that you?" A voice asked excitedly from inside the house.

A beautiful woman with a large stomach walked outside. She was short, tan and had long black hair and green eyes; she was wearing comfortable clothes with flowers on them. She smiled and walked up to Anders and hugged him. He looked embarrassed for a second and then returned the hug. She looked up at Anders and stared him in the eyes; he suddenly kissed her on the lips. Rose squealed at the sight.

Anders snapped back to reality and looked at the gems, while still holding on to the woman. "Gems I would like you to meet my wife Pepper," Anders said with blushing a little bit.

"Oh my god you are embarrassed aren't," Pepper said smiling.

"No…no I'm not," Anders stuttered and pulled on the collar of his shirt.

Pepper kissed him the cheek. "You are so adorable," Pepper said breaking away from him.

Rose squealed again. "I am not adorable, I am a deadly mercenary for god sakes," Anders muttered under his breath.

"So you keep reminding me," Pepper said rolling her eyes. "As you know from my husband I am Pepper, you must be the Crystal Gems I read Anders messages about you all."

"Really what do they say?" Rose asked smiling.

"Well she is Garnet the alright one, Amethyst the wild one, Pearl the fancy one, and Rose the leader," Pepper said she pointed to each one.

"That's all," Pearl said surprised.

"Trust me there is way more, but that was the most pleasant," Pepper said in a whisper.

The gems glared at Anders for a moment and went back to Pepper. "Anyways how long have you two been married?" Rose asked clearly interested in the girl.

"Three years, but we have known each other for much longer," Pepper said returning to her husband.

"So how have you been," Anders said finally calming down.

"Great, but it just got better," Pepper said stepping on the porch.

"It is great seeing you," Anders said in a whisper.

"I know," Pepper said smiling.

The two walked inside, Peppers head poked up. "What are you four waiting for come on inside," Pepper said inviting the gems inside.

They walked into a living room. Old furniture filled the room; there was a small fire place and an old rug thrown on the floor. In the corner of the room was a small TV with a radio on top of it. The gems sat on some old furniture while Anders and Pepper walked into the kitchen.

"Work has been so hectic lately," Anders sighed and sat at a table.

"Relax Anders don't get stressed out," Pepper said as she worked on dinner.

"I know, but it is so draining," Anders said rubbing his forehead.

"Honey you are home now put work on the back burner you don't have to worry about anything," Pepper said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

Anders looked at her smiling face. "I missed you," Anders returned the smile and hugged her.

"I know you did, so those are the legendary crystal gems," Pepper said chuckling a little bit.

"Don't get me started about them," Anders said rolling his eyes.

"They are a lot more human than I expected," Pepper said a little bit surprised.

"What did you think they look like?" Anders asked confused.

"Giant sentient rocks," Pepper said slowly.

Anders laughed loudly and smiled. "You got to be kidding me," Anders said rubbing his forehead.

Pepper didn't say anything and went back to dinner. "So where are my parents?" Anders asked breaking the silence.

"Out of town," Pepper replied sitting down at the table.

"Kind of a good thing now," Anders stared at the gems trying to figure out the TV.

"Yeah your dad would've gone into one of his back in my days rants and wouldn't shut up for an hour," Pepper said as Amethyst slammed the remote on the ground.

The TV turned on making the gems jump back. "Eh no he would just rant about communists," Anders said chuckling a bit.

Pearl poked at the TV screen. "I should step in before they break the TV," Anders said with a sigh.

"Let them there is a sale on electronics at the store I want a bigger one!" Pepper yelled as Anders walked off.

Loud rock music played on the TV surprised the gems, Garnet summoned her gauntlets and was about to smash the TV. "Whoa wait!" Anders yelled trying to stop them. "Do not break my stuff."

Garnets' gauntlets disappeared. "What is this thing some sort of communicator," Pearl poked at the TV screen again. "Hello can you hear me?"

"No it is a TV. It shows pictures from different places, but it only works one way," Anders explained.

"Are all these things happening right now?" Amethyst asked as she stopped messing with the remote.

"No some are pre-recorded," Anders said as he sat down on a chair.

"An orphaned boy with sass and pep…" The TV sang.

"Ooo what is this?" Amethyst asked no one.

"A sit-com called Lil' Butler," Anders explained.

Amethyst stared at the TV screen blankly. "Hello Amethyst," Anders waved his hand in front of her face.

Amethyst said nothing and continued to watch TV. "What happened to her?" Pepper asked walked into the room.

"The TV got another one," Anders replied with a sigh.

Anders turned around and saw Pepper watching TV. Anders sighed and walked outside and saw Garnet sitting on top of a pile of hay.

"So," Garnet said calmly.

"So what?" Anders asked confused.

Garnet had a large smile on her face; Anders was taken aback by the outburst of joy. "You two are so adorable," Garnet said chuckling a little bit.

"When do you become so into relationships?" Anders asked still a little bit off.

"For as long as I have existed," Garnet said calming down.

Anders didn't reply. "You seem happier than usual," Garnet said with a small smirk.

"How else would I feel seeing someone I love," Anders said with a small smile.

"I know how you feel," Garnet said.

"Didn't take you to be a romantic," Anders said surprised.

"There is a lot do you don't know about me," Garnet said pulling down he shades winking with her third eye.

Anders shivered a little bit and stared off into the distance. Suddenly a hoard of cows surrounded the pile of hay Garnet was sitting on. The cows climbed on the hay and started to eat it. Garnet tried to push the cows away, but they kept coming back. Anders chuckled and walked inside. He heard giggling coming from the kitchen. Anders disappeared, while Rose and Pearl sat at a table with Pepper.

"So out of nowhere Anders lashed out and punched this guy in the face because he was too close to me," Pepper said giggling a little bit.

"Is he really that protective?" Pearl asked surprised.

"You wouldn't believe how protective he is. The first time he had to job away for work he bugged the house to make sure I was safe," Pepper said as she grabbed an old camera.

"Who would have guessed," Rose said surprised.

"Yeah he may act tough, but he can be really sweet when he tries," Pepper said smiling.

"He can also be absolutely terrifying when he tries," Anders growled appearing out of nowhere point a gun at the gems heads.

"I think we should step out," Rose said grabbed an angry Pearl leaving the room.

Anders put his gun away and rolled his eyes. "Anders why did you do that and how did you do," Pepper asked pouting a little bit.

"For the first part of that question I do not need you to embarrass me and two I cannot tell you," Anders replied.

"But it is funny to see you flustered," Pepper said with a smile.

Anders rolled his eyes and heard the door open. The two looked at Garnet who was covered in hay and cow slobber, her hair was chewed up as well.

"I hate cows," Garnet said stoically.

"There is a hose out back if you want to clean up," Anders pointed to the back door.

Garnet walked out back, Rose and Pearl disappeared somewhere, and Amethyst was absorbed in the TV show.

Pepper suddenly frowned. "I heard about what happened to Morpho," She said in a near whisper.

Anders frowned a little bit. "He was a great friend, don't worry I moved on," Anders said taking a seat at the table.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Pepper said putting a hand on her stomach.

"I will be fine Pepper," Anders said trying to calm her down.

"How do I know for sure? Every time you walk out that door I have to wonder if you will come back this time," Pepper said as small tears formed in her eyes.

"I have to comeback though, I won't just roll over and die," Anders said holding her hands.

"You can't say that for sure, you were in that helicopter. I don't like it when you do this death defying stuff," Pepper said tightening her grip on his hands.

"It is just part of my job Pepper there is nothing I can do about it," Anders said in a quiet voice.

"I wish you could," Pepper said, she stood up and hugged Anders.

"Don't worry I will be fine," Anders put a hand on her stomach. "I promise."

He kissed her once again. A timer rang out. The two snapped back into reality. "I guess dinner is done," Pepper said rubbing the back of her head.

"I will get the gems," Anders said walked out the back door.

Later into the night Anders sat on the roof of the house and stared at the stars. The night was quiet and still. Crickets chirped in the long grass and barn owls hooted. A cool breeze filled the air; the moons' glow filled the empty fields. The gems (expect for Amethyst how was still watching TV) crawled out a window and joined his on the roof.

"So how much did you hear earlier?" Anders asked calmly.

"All of it," The gems said ashamed.

"Nosey idiots, don't worry I am not dying anytime soon I got people making sure of that," Anders said smirking a little.

"Good," Garnet said.

"You are your wife are adorable," Rose blurted out of nowhere.

"I know!" Pepper yelled from somewhere in the house.

"How did she know we were talking about her?" Pearl asked surprised.

"She just knows," Anders sighed and rolled his eyes. "Also tomorrow I am going to teach you to ride horses."  
"Why?" Pearl asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because I want to see you all fail at it," Anders said chuckling.

The group stared out into the distance. Meanwhile in a dark underground cave a corrupt gem was tied to a table. A dark hooded figure wearing a long black robe moved through the darkness. The figure hummed and sang in an unknown language. The corrupt gem struggled trying to get off the table; the giant figure moved a boney finger to the lips of the creature shushing it.

"Don't worry I will make you perfect," It said in a raspy yet snarky voice.

The figure made a slurping sound and put a syringe looking device into the monster.


	6. The Big City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bloody hell, I went a bit edgy when I got to these parts didn't I  
> -Signed Triblast28

The Big City

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders made a tally under the weeks carving making it the twenty-first tally. Anders smirked and spun the knife in his hand and sat at the edge of the cave. He turned on his music and stared into the distance. The mid-day sun hung over the town; people gathered on the beach and played in the water. The people stayed away from the fence that divided the beach. Occasionally a kid or teenager tried to sneak into the hole Anders made, but ran off before even getting close to the cave. A lone crab moved across the sand slowly. It desperately tried to get into the sea before a seagull came down and took it away. The smell of food being cooked in the distance made Anders stomach growl in hunger. Anders pulled out a calorie pack and reluctantly ate it. The sounds of people laughing and playing at the beach filled the air. The smell of salt was stronger than usual. The ocean was calm and quiet. Small waves were made by boats occasionally made it to the shore. It was peaceful, a calm breeze made flower petals fly across the sky. Anders snapped back into reality and tightened his bandana. He turned off the music and put his knife in its holster; he then stood up and dusted off his uniform. His device suddenly buzzed and red holographic screen appeared. A look of fear appeared on Anders face, he rushed towards the temple door. He pounded on the temple door, the pink gem glowed and Rose entered the cave.

"Anders what is wrong?" Rose asked confused by the sight of the terrified mercenary.

"Red alert we have to get to my base right now," Anders hissed running to the warp pad.

"Oh um ok," Rose said startled by the outburst.

The gems quickly gathered and joined Anders on the warp pad. He opened the holographic globe and pressed on the longest beam of light. They disappeared in the warp stream. They appeared outside of the fence of a large complex. It was raining hard; Anders put on a rain poncho and ran towards a guard post. The sound of mud being swished under boots filled the air. The gems looked around and realized they were on a small island. They joined Anders at the post; the mercenary there saluted Anders and let them in. The dirt ground and roads were also turning into mud; the complex was made out dirty and pitiful wood buildings on stilts. A flag with the T.O.U logo flew high in the middle of the camp. A few squads of mercenaries ran towards helicopters waiting to take off. The gems stared at the complex surprised as they continued to follow Anders. He led them to the back of the complex to two concrete buildings. Anders ran into the one on the left.

The gems soon followed him. "Did you expect their base to be so pitiful?" Pearl asked in a whisper.

"We aren't a major operation yet we have only been around for six years," A voice said from behind them.

The gems turned around to see an old man wearing a brown trench coat; his white hair was short and formed a short beard. "I used to have a bigger company, but the government forced it out of business because of the hand we had in Iran-Contra scandal. They also crippled our funding so we are just getting back on our feet, we are lucky to have our current members. Don't worry though we are the best at what we do," The old man said confidently.

"Who are you?" Rose asked surprised by the old man's sudden appearance.

"Call me Twentieth Rose Quartz, I have heard a lot about you, it is interesting finally meeting you face to face," Twentieth said holding out his hand.

Rose shook it confused. "Does everyone here know my name?" Rose asked surprised.

"Only the higher ups, no need to introduce your friends, I have heard plenty about Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst. Come follow me," Twentieth said walking down the hall.

The gems stared at him confused, but still followed him. Twentieth pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He took a long drag and puffed out rings. He led the gems into a large room with multiply computers and random machinery scattered across it. Anders and Marcus were in the room looking at a large holographic map of a city. They saw Twentieth and saluted.

"So gentlemen what are we dealing with here?" Twentieth asked while staring at the map.

"Four corrupt gems somehow got into a large city in South America undetected; we sent a few scouts into the city and got it evacuated before the gems could do any real damage. The scout reports show that the corrupt gems show signs of mutation," Marcus made a holographic version of the syringes. "Our scouts have sent in pictures the syringes being near their gems, which has led to our conclusion. The estimated damage caused by the gems so far is near six thousand dollars. The government has promised us twenty thousand dollars for the destruction of the corrupt gems and making them look like they did all the work," Anders read off a brief in a serious tone.

"What have you done to counter the gems?" Twentieth asked returning the tone.

"I have mobilized three squads of five mercenaries from the special opts division disguised as police officers into the city, they will be there in ten minutes," Marcus said before going into one of his coughing fits.

Anders gave him some pills; Marcus smiled at Anders weakly and took the pills. "Sounds like we have this under control," Twentieth said with a smirk.

"Of course sir, we have gotten used to this type of operation," Anders said returning the smirk.

"Why are we here then if you have this under control," Pearl asked making the gems presence noticed.

"For back up in case something wrong happens, these mutant corrupt gems are very new, we don't know what to expect from them," Marcus explained as his coughing stopping.

"So who exactly are you Twentieth?" Rose asked surprised by the tone Marcus and Anders had towards him.

"The head of T.O.U," Twentieth said very casually.

The gems stared at him surprised. "I thought Marcus was," Amethyst said confused.

"He is one of the many leaders under me, he controls the scientific division, Anders over there is second in command of the special opts division," Twentieth explained sounding more bored.

Twentieth finished smoking his cigarette and flicked it into Garnets hair, he smirked while a Garnet shot him a glare. "You know for aliens you all are quite boring," Twentieth said with a yawn. "Can't you do something more exciting than stand there."  
"You should show some respect we saved your planet," Pearl said glaring at him.

Twentieth chuckled at her glare. "Your funny, you saved our planet about five thousand years ago. And what have you done since then, rot in a cave worshipping yourselves and occasionally giving yourself a pat on your back for something you did thousands of years ago, while your sanity slowly fades away," Twentieth said sharply with a more intimidating glare.

Pearl backed off, a little bit scared. "That's wrong we do a lot more than that don't we, Anders," Amethyst said trying to show up Twentieth.

"It takes you two weeks to start a single mission by yourselves, others than that all you do is stay in the temple doing god knows what," Ander said with a sigh.

Anders sat on a box in the corner of the room as three arrows appeared on the map of city; Garnet walked over to him and looked down at him. "What you can't say he didn't bring up a good point," Anders said with a frown.

Garnet didn't reply. "You know how far Pearls obsession with Rose has gone and how much a wild element Amethyst. If Rose was ever shattered Pearl would go off the deep end and who knows what Amethyst would do. They might go wild or even worst corrupt, but you however you are more stable. Why is that?" Anders asked thinking back to how calm Garnet always is.

"I am not as stable as you think. If something ever happened to Rose it would probably hit me hard, tearing me into two. I don't know what I would do, but I know I would come back, because there is something strong holding me together. As they are alive I will come back," Garnet mused as she stared nothing.

"What do you mean by 'they'?" Anders asked focusing on that one word.

Garnet smirked. "Maybe one day I will show you," Garnet said.

"You earned my respect, I hope your friends could do the same," Anders sighed.

Suddenly a loud ringing noise filled the room. Marcus picked up a phone and put it on speaker.

"This is mission control what is it squad leader three?" Marcus asked surprised by the call.

"Sir Do you remember the chemical weapon that was active in that forest a few weeks back?" The mercenary asked, he sounded out of breath and nervous.

"Yes what about it?" Marcus asked confused.

"It is active here, we were able to warn the other squads before they landed, but most of my men are gone, as soon as we landed it hit us. Two died right then, then a giant bipedal corrupt gem appeared out of nowhere. It had a humanoid figure, but it was monstrous, it didn't look like an animal even. It shot these crystals off of its back and destroyed the helicopter and my other two men. It got my leg, I need an extraction now," The mercenary begged as he started to sob.

"It's ok soldier we got it we send in Pequod to get you and then I will neutralize the gas where did the gas seem to be coming from?" Marcus asked getting more concerned,

"Mid-town from a skyscraper, please get here soon with back up. Hey who are you? No what are you? Oh dear god!" The mercenary screamed.

The sound of him getting stabbed filled the room. An uneasy silence filled the room. Suddenly a voice came on the mercenary's side, a voice signing and humming in an unknown language. The phone was then shot. Everyone turned to see Twentieth who was holding a handgun, he looked angry.

"Sir," Marcus said scared.

"Sorry for the slip up there, but I get a little bit pissed when I hear my soldiers dying on the phone," Twentieth growled seething with anger, Anders nodded in agreement. "And no monster killed him, what stabbed him knew he was doing it and he god damn enjoyed it."

Anders pulled out a shotgun and gas mask and threw it at Twentieth, he caught it and started to walk off. "You all have five minutes until Pequod arrives at the LZ take that as prep time we are going on a mission," Anders ordered and he walked off.

Marcus coughed loudly getting the gems attention as he tried to wheel up some stairs. Garnet walked over and held the wheel chair over her head. The gems walked over to an array of helicopter pads which they called their airfield. Anders some joined them. He was wearing a gray version of his uniform that was covered with full on body armor and a gasmask. Along with his normal gear he had a few grenades and flashbangs and a riot shield on his back. Marcus wheeled himself over to Anders and poked at the body armor. A harsh wind covered the helipad as the helicopter landed.

"This is Pequod arriving at LZ," Pequod said over the radio.

Anders sat in the copilots seat and patted Pequod on the back. "How have you been doin' buddy?" Anders asked with an honest smile.

"Been doin' good sir, we can talk more during the trip," Pequod said returning the smile.

The gems opened the side doors to the helicopter and saw Twentieth sitting in the chamber. The gems looked surprised as the put Marcus into the helicopter. Twentieth pounded on the wall and Pequod took off. Pequod and Anders played music in the helicopter while they talked. Marcus fell asleep and snored loudly; he leaned on to Pearl and drooled on her. She gently pushed him away, but he flopped back on her this time drooling on her head. Pearl quietly screamed while Amethyst laughed at her. Twentieth rolled his eyes and pulled out two handguns and polished them. After a little while the helicopter hovered towards the city. A giant white fog covered the dead city. The lights from buildings and street lamps shone through the thick fog. The buildings fell apart due to the fogs effect, others were reduced to rubble. Abandoned cars and unfortunate people littered the street. Dust flew through the sky and roars from the corrupt gems filled the air. The helicopter landed outside of mid-town and then flew off. The other mercenaries were already there waiting for their arrival. They looked tired and beaten; Anders pulled out a crate of supplies and let the mercenaries at it. They then realized Twentieth and Marcus was there and saluted them, for a brief moment, but they immediately went back to raiding the box. Marcus giggled, while Twentieth only sighed, a squad leader walked up to the group of commanders and saluted.

"We were able to deal with one of the mutant gems, we would be working quicker, but the rain and fog keep us from moving as fast as we should. And the scouts died because of the fog so we don't know where they are as quick anymore. Plus before we grouped up squad two said they saw something moving in the fog like it was stalking them," The squad leader listed off.

"That might be the bastard that killed the third squad leader," Twentieth noted under his breath.

"That mutant was tough to kill it took other assault rifle rounds like it was nothing, we had to use heavy rounds from our shotguns and our light weight machine guns," The squad leader said shivering at the thought.

Anders nodded and changed his shotguns ammo. "What did they look like," Marcus asked clearly interested.

"Giant monsters covered in gems with large spikes on their backs, the walked on two legs and had monstrous faces that were scarred and disjointed," The squad leader said with a terrified gulp.

Anders patted him on the back. "I am sorry for getting you involved with in this mess, we thought to less of them it was my fault," Anders said with a sigh.

The squad leader looked at him surprised. "It is ok sir, we are fine, this better than doing rounds in Africa," The squad leader said flustered.

"It's ok now you are walking with an elite now," Twentieth said confidently. "Let's search for the monsters first then disable the weapon, how big is its area of effect?"

"About a six mile radius," Marcus answered surprised by the sudden question.

"Good it won't hit the full town, let's move out," Twentieth said making a few hand signals.

"So what will be the cover up this time?" Marcus asked he was wheeled alongside Twentieth.

"Earthquake," Twentieth replied nonchalantly.

The group walking through the destroyed streets, they were cracked and ruptured. The rubble from some buildings rolled on the ground. Broken glass and concreate were scattered across the ground the ground. The rain filled the holes in the road, it was quiet the only noise was that of the rain hitting the ground. Occasionally the sound of fast footsteps came from the distance startling some of the mercenaries. The mercenaries were at nerve ends. The gems stared at the destroyed city with despair, Rose wept at the sights of the dead bodies lying in the streets. Amethyst looked unstable like she was ready to freak out at any moment. Even Garnet looked off somewhere else. Pearl tried to comfort Rose, but to no avail. Anders sighed at the sight of the gems, Twentieth seemed unaffected by the sights around him. He walked with confidence and a cool head. Marcus had his device out and scanned the area constantly, taking samples of the weapon. His random hms broke the silence often, soon enough the soldiers calmed down enough to talk in a foreign language. The gems eventually calmed down and started to walk alongside the rest of the group. Anders smiled under his mask and joined in the soldiers conversations. A long period of time passed and a loud roar filled the streets. A giant bipedal monster came charging down the street. It was covered it spikes and round rocks and had a humanoid figure; it shot a large crystal at Anders. He pulled out his riot shield and tried to block the crystal. The crystal pierced through the shield inches away from Anders face. The soldiers opened fire on the beast, but it kept charging. Twentieth calmly walked forward and pulled out a single handgun. He pointed it towards the beast and shot one single round. The bullet flew gracefully through the sky almost like it was in slow motion. The bullet shattered the beast's gem instantly making it poof. The mercenaries stared at their boss in fear, respect, and admiration. He maintained his calm cool pace as he walked towards the beast's gem. He picked it up in the palm of his hand and crushed it. Marcus, Anders, and the gems watched this act in horror.

"I didn't even smash the gem that killed Morpho," Anders said in a near whisper.

"That mutant got what it deserved an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth," Twentieth said as the wind blew the shards away.

"But that was taking it an extreme," Rose said horrified.

"It is better than having to suffer as a mutant whenever it forms, even if and that is a very big if, could reform as a sentient being would you want it to live in such pain?" Twentieth asked coldly.

"He is right and the vengeance is justified," Marcus said quietly. "These mutations are permit."

"Exactly we either save it for research or kill it those are the only two options," Twentieth said with a sigh.

The Crystal Gems frowned, but accepted the fact. "It is ok we will rarely kill them," Marcus said trying to cheer them up.

Twentieth sighed and put the gun away. "Sorry if I appear cold, I wish we met on better terms," Twentieth said while making a few hand signals.

Marcus wheeled himself towards one of the syringes and scanned it. "This is interesting, if we shoot the syringes it will destabilize them and poof them," Marcus explained with a smirk.

"I think the syringes control them and keeps them stable when I disabled the computer in that research facility all the corrupt gems with syringes disappeared," Anders whispered to Marcus.

"Do you think that Black Opal is controlling them?" Marcus asked remembering the thing that killed third squad leader.

"Have we finished decrypting those logs yet?" Anders asked back.

"About twenty five percent done," Marcus replied.

Anders nodded and started to follow the mercenaries with Marcus. The group trudged through the city. They were getting more tired with every step. The city was quiet, but the sound of rapid footsteps grew more frequent. Twentieth only sighed at the sight of the destroyed city. Garnet once again held Marcus over her head as they walked on top of destroyed and abandoned cars that filled the streets. Once again a corrupt gem that looked similar to the last appeared and charged at them. Twentieth merely sighed and twirled a handgun on his finger. The beast roared loudly and banged on the ground. It stumbled through the streets while it charged and head butted the buildings. It tripped on the ground and landed on a pile of cars. Some mercenaries laughed at the sight of the beast. Twentieth rolled his eyes and shot the gems syringe making it poof. Anders walked over to the gem and placed it in a metal container, he threw to Garnet who bubbled it and sent it off. They continued once again and walked towards the center of mid-town. Another monster appeared, but was once again quickly dispatched of by Twentieth. The soldiers walked towards a giant skyscraper. The lights in the building were still running. The building was covered in dust and parts of it feel off, most of the windows were broken. The building looked dead and pointless. The gems and soldiers slowly towards the building when they heard slow footsteps and something singing in an unknown language. The group turned around and saw towering skinny figure draped in a long black robe and hood walking towards them, his face was covered by the shadow the hood made, and in one of his boney hands was a dead mercenary with a large stab wound through his chest. The figure stopped singing and took a deep breath and stared at the group menacingly. The figure dropped the body and smiled at the shocked group.

"Just what the heck are you?" One of the mercenaries asked terrified.

"The better question is, wanna see me break that guy!" The figure yelled with an obvious blood lust.

The figure leapt into the air and landed behind a mercenary and kicked him into a wall of a building, the figure smiled as he heard the sound of his bones breaking, and he then walked to the mercenary and stomped on him. "Pitiful human, I see they are as weak as ever," The figure chided.

A mixture of looks of terror, anger, and disgust came from the group. Out of nowhere gunshot a broke the silence, it hit the figure in his leg. He turned around and saw Anders seething with anger holding his shotgun.

"What the heck human that's messed up," The figure said as he held his wound.

"Says the guy that broke a man's rib cage for fun!" Anders yelled back.

"Oh yeah that was pretty fun, so where is your gem handlers human they wouldn't just let you all roam around aimlessly would they?" The figure asked laughing at the thought of killing that one guy. "Because if they did, the standards must have really dropped."

"What do you mean gem handlers, there have been no homeworld gems here in over five thousand years," Anders said surprised.

"Five thousand years amazing I was out that long, I should've known when this planet wasn't hollowed out, don't tell me those rebels won," The figure looked over at Rose Quartz. "You again I remember you, congratulations on your victory Quartz such a nice place you got here, but it wasn't my still. Do you like my redecorating?" The figure had a giant smile on his face as he inhaled the fog. "I just love this stuff I invented it myself you know and it is wonderful to see it work, brings a warm fuzzy feeling. I despise that," The figure said with a groan. "So did you enjoy it?"

"Enjoy what?" Rose asked still a bit shocked at the gem.

"The planet, it isn't going to be yours much longer," The figure said as if it was stating the obvious.

Twentieth glared. "What the hell does that mean?" Twentieth growled angrily.

"Well homeworld would want it back we left something important here after all," The figure chided once again.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Anders asked still seething with anger.

"My name is Lord Black Opal loyal servant to homeworld and the diamond authority, former head of the scientific operations on Earth, and your undertaker," Black Opal listed off proudly.

"Wait undertaker?" A mercenary repeated confused.

"Oh yes that is my favorite part," Black Opal dashed towards the mercenary.

He pointed his towards the chest of the mercenary and was about to stab him, when suddenly his hand blown off by Twentieth. Anders pulled Black Opal in the chest twice piercing his body.

"Ow, ow, owww," Black Opal moaned disorientated. "Not," Black Opal smirked and injected himself with a syringe, suddenly all his wounds healed. "You guys are ruining all my fun," Black Opal cried.

"You think this is fun?" Marcus asked shocked and horrified.

"Well duh," Black Opal said casually.

The mercenaries growled angrily and pointed their guns at him. "Well this did not go as planned, I was not expecting you all to be able to hurt me, I got to go back and rethink things, bye," Black Opal made a giant flash appear and leapt away.

"What the hell was that?" Anders asked snapping out of his anger.

"A monster a real monster," Rose said getting out shock.

"Rose what do we do?" Pearl asked worried.

"I don't know," Rose said crying a little bit.

"I never expected another gem to live through the war," Garnet said looking at the ground in shame.

"I am terrified," Pearl said crying a little bit.

Twentieth scoffed. "Anders call in Pequod your part of the mission is done, have him bring you and the gems home they are clearly unstable we can disable the weapons, thanks for your help," Twentieth said with a sigh.

"Yeah sorry about this entire mess sir," Anders said saluting.

The mercenaries and Twentieth walked into the building while Anders called in Pequod. The helicopter landed next to them, they climbed into the metal chamber in silence. Pequod could tell they were in a bad mood and remained silent. The ride was complete quiet; the air was tense and uneasy. Thunder roared in the distance, the storm ended as they flew near beach city. The helicopter landed near Greg's van, the group hopped off. Greg saw how sad and terrified Rose was and immediately embraced her. Anders stared off into the distance and listened to some music.


	7. Prep Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another filler chapter.

Prep work

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders and the gems stepped off the warp pad outside of the mercenary complex. Anders took a deep breath and stared off into the distance. The ocean toiled in the background and the waves crashed along the coast of the island. The salt smelling wind blew against the tall grass bending it back. A pelican swooped down and scoped a fish out of the water. The forest loomed in the background, snakes and random small animals moved through the grass and dirt. The sounds of boots and guns being fired at a range rang from the complex. The flag blew proudly in the wind as a drill sergeant barked out commands. Moans of pain and exhaustion came from new recruits. Music played on Pequod's radio as he and a group of engineers worked on his helicopter. A loud explosion range out every few minutes sending dirt and dust flying through the air. The mud from the earlier rainstorm was nearly dry. The sun hung over the island, though it wasn't even that hot. The waves crashed against the cliff side to the west of the island. Anders and the gems walked towards the guard post. The soldier stood at attention and let the group in. A group of trainees trailing behind a drill sergeant cut off their path. Anders chuckled and smirked as they ran by. A desert camo jeep drove down one of the dirt path into a garage by the R&D lab a group of people holding spray cans followed it in. A group of soldiers holding mismatched guns walked alongside the gems for a little while.

"This reminds me of the war days," Pearl said almost mystified.

"Anders what is with the random gear?" Rose asked as a group of soldiers picked up random boxes of ammo.

"We collect most of supplies on site, we usually steal vehicles and supplies out of old battlefields, since we don't have confirmed funding and there isn't any long term wars going on nowadays we are having problems managing supplies, we take what we can get," Anders tossed an old dirty AK-47 at a soldier.

The soldier saluted them and ran off. "So why are we hear again?" Amethyst asked as she flopped back into a pool of mud.

"It is much safer and quicker to run operations here temporally, especially since Black Opal is running around somewhere," Anders said with a sigh.

"So we should just go out there and woop him right now," Amethyst said punching the air.

"I would like to see you fair against an army of mutant gems and enemy we never dealt with before in your current state," Anders said with a scoff.

"What does that mean?" Amethyst asked sounding surprisingly harsh.

"Well you all are a mess; you think it would be as simple 'wooping' him. It won't be that easy, that thing has chemical weapons that deviates life, the ability to mutate gems, undefined powers and an unknown skill set. You would be running around the globe with no clear plan or focus. And even if you somehow find it how would we be able to deal with his mutants without the proper gear and prep work. And some training wouldn't kill you all, normal corrupt gems are child's play compared to the mutants. In our current state going against him would be asking for a repeat of the city incident," Anders said sharply with a glare.

The gems went quiet; Anders sighed and shook his head. "Sorry this mess has put me on edge," Anders said putting a hand on his forehead.

"It's ok Anders I acted just the same during the war," Pearl said trying to comfort him.

"That does not improve my mood," Anders said an exhausted look.

Anders looked over to a group of soldiers training hand to hand combat. "Go to the building we were in last time I got to go do something," Anders said as he took off his shirt and walked towards the group.

The gems stared at him strangely for a moment and then walked towards the building. As they approached the sounds of construction grew louder. Soldiers dragged scrap metal across the ground from a large metal yard. Buildings were being expanded on and built, some soldiers walked outside of the fence holding shovels. Music played from random devices and portable radios. Birds landed on top of the wooden buildings and squawked loudly. The gems walked into the R&D building and enter Marcus's lab. Scientists quiet mummers merged with the sound of the machines and the buzz of the computers. Files and the holographic devices were scattered on a table. Marcus browsed through file cabinets holding VHS tapes and cassette tapes. He noticed the gems and wheeled himself to the table and directed the gems to sit at it. The gems awkwardly sat themselves in the small human chairs. Marcus smirked a little bit and then suddenly got more serious; he pulled out his device and started to record.

"Regrading Black Opal file seven, case interview with gems," Marcus spoke into the device. "Sorry protocol, as you can guess I have invited you four here to discuss our current situation."

The gems nodded their heads yes. "Good Black Opal is a ruthless gem, his tech is very advance compared to other gem artifacts could you please explain how this is possible, you must have heard something if you lead your army to specifically attack his facility, please state your name as you give your statement," Marcus explained.

"Umm ok," Rose said surprised. "This is Rose Quartz leader of the Crystal Gems, we targeted Black Opal, because he was on the for front of Homeworld technology most of their advance weaponry, buildings, and space travel technology came from his twisted mind. He also was seventh in command of Homeworld Colonization of Earth, he was in charge of all the research centers, kindergartens, and any further experiments on Earth. We decided the sooner we dealt with him the better, we have no clue how he has survived this long without becoming corrupt."

"Hmm interesting, what certain skills does Black Opal poses?" Marcus asked while he jolted down a few notes.

"We do not know," Rose said hastily.

"Was he leading the battle of the crater?" Marcus asked out of left field.

"Yes he was his strategies kept us from approaching the lab for one week, when we finally arrived continued battle went on for five days, with nonstop combat. He divided his soldiers into mixed platoons which was unlike anything we've seen before, he also laid traps down on the battle field and released that devastating weapon on the field very often," Pearl explained making holographic images while she talked.

"So he is a tactical genius, natural leader, plans ahead, and fights dirty," Marcus said.

"How do you guess that?" Pearl asked making the holograms go away.

"You can learn a lot about a man from his strategy," Marcus said with a light chuckle. "Anyways let's move on."

Marcus device projected a large holographic map of Africa with large red dots scattered around the mid part of it, down south of the red dots was a blue one was a label that read "Crater". "The red dots represent where Black Opal has attacked with his mutants, currently five locations ranging from small villages, fields, and wildlife reserves, but nowhere else, I believe he doesn't know where he is so he is just attacking locations he finds at random, so we just have to comb that area and we can find his base of operations," Marcus explained.

"Seems simple enough," Garnet said.

"Africa is much bigger than the map makes it out to be, these attacks happened in over five countries so far, but lucky our soldiers have a lot of experience in this region so the job will be easier than usual," Marcus said with a light cough, he then smiled. "It is great working with you all."  
"Same here Marcus," Rose said returning the smile.

"When I was young everyone tried to make me stop researching you all, they said I working with things I could never understand, that I was fool," Marcus said with a sigh as he wheel himself over to his medicine tray. "But look at me now; here I am saving the world."

Rose smile grew larger. "Great to hear Marcus do you anything else?" Rose asked as the gems got ready to leave.

"No I think I am fine," Marcus popped a pill and the gems walked out.

The gems walked out of the R&D building into the bright light outside. Smoke flew through the air, a cloud of smoke made the gems cough, they looked over to their sides and saw Twentieth sitting on top of a pile of crates, Twentieth smirked and put out his cigarette. "How are my favorite freaks doing this fine afternoon?" Twentieth said with a light chuckle.

Pearl glared at him for a brief moment. "Good Twentieth how are you?" Rose asked obviously not wanting to be part of the conversation.

"I am doing just fine, just got back from so work in Niger, in a few months they will signing this peace accord and I will lose one of my biggest cash cows," Twentieth said with a groan. "Now all I have is those civil wars Sierra Leone and Algeria. But if I could get a contract with the UN to get into Somali I would be able to replace the hole Mali and Niger will leave."

"How unfortunate, well bye if you need us we will be working with Anders in the training field," Rose said trying to walk off.

"Wait I have to show where you will stay while at my base," Twentieth said getting off the crates. "Follow me."  
The gems followed him and reluctantly listened to his money issues, he lead them to the air field and into a hanger. Random car and plane parts were scattered across the hanger. Crates were piled against the walls and the smell of oil filled the air. Soldiers dragged old guns and crates out of the hanger, next to it was an old stone air tower making constant beeping sounds. In a dirty old stained corner was a few mattresses thrown on the ground. Pearl looked at the hanger in disgust and nearly gagged, Amethyst happily dug into a pile of scrap metal. Twentieth pointed to the mattresses and walked. Pequod walked over to the gems and sharply inhaled at the sight.

Pequod whistled. "Wow boss must really hate ya' making ya' sleep in 'ere," Pequod said as he stared at dirty mattresses.

"What do you mean?" Garnet asked.

"Here is where we keep the disrespectful recruits, I hope you all like the sound of helicopters and a cargo plane because that's all ya' gonna be hearing," Pequod said as a helicopter took off.

"I got a pile, I'm fine!" Amethyst yelled as she burrowed into the pile of scrap metal.

"Want me to give ya' a ride to the training field?" Pequod asked as he walked towards a jeep with the UN logo on it.

"Umm sure," Rose said.

Amethyst slept on top of the pile while the rest of the gems awkwardly tried to fit in the jeep. They held onto the sides of the jeep as it drove down the dirt road. The jeep drove right by the training fields, the sounds of explosives, guns, and people fighting were the loudest here. Pequod drove down a road to a beach where a group of soldiers were practicing hand to hand combat. He stopped the jeep outside a wooden building with the T.O.U painted on it, a group of soldiers surround Anders on the beach. The gems were about to get off the jeep when Pequod put his hand out telling them to stop. Pequod smirked while the gems looked confused.

"Ok your worthless ungrateful maggots! You have the honor of training with the Commander today and so far you have been nothing but disappointments! I swear my grandmother is tougher! How about I make it easier for you all, all of you can go against the Commander, and if you fail it is five laps around the island!" The drill sergeant yelled.

Anders cracked his neck and pulled out a smoke bomb. "Mind if I show them something?" Anders asked as he tossed the smoke bomb in his hand.

"Go ahead," The drill sergeant said.

"On the battlefield your enemy won't fight far, you must be prepared for anything. Do you know how small armies beat bigger forces?" Anders asked rhetorically. "They use unconventional tactics, so to truly be unique on the battlefield your training must be unconventional, that is the advantage of this island we get the privilege to train under multiply different climates, but I am getting off topic all of you come at me now!"

The mercenaries surrounded him and slowly moved towards him. Anders pulled the pin of the smoke grenade and dropped it on the ground. A large cloud of smoke covered where they were standing. At first there was the sounds of coughing, those were quickly replaced by the sounds of screaming and grunts of pain. Anders casually walked out of the smoke cloud. A strong wind blew the cloud away, lying in the sand were the mercenaries groaning and holding their injuries. Some could barely get on their knees, others were knocked out.

"Five laps maggots on the double!" The drill sergeant yelled.

The soldiers slowly stood up and started to run after the sergeant, Anders sighed and put on his shirt and walked towards the gems. "New recruits, I think every single year they get more and more pitiful," Anders said wiping the sweat off his brow.

"How were you able to do that?" Pearl asked surprised.

"What the thing with the smoke, well I pulled the pin and boom smoke," Anders explained a little bit confused.

"No knocking everyone out like that so quickly," Pearl said face palming.

"There are certain pressure points in the human body that can be easily exploited; a good choke hold can get an unexpected person down in a few seconds or just throwing them on the ground or into each other is good. My specialty is stealth missions so I use that trick pretty often," Anders explained as he watched the recruits run into the forest. "So how did the meeting with Marcus go?"

"Pretty good, but the meeting after that wasn't as good," Rose said the last part sadder.

"You ran into Twentieth didn't you?" Anders asked hanging his head.

"Yup I don't understand why he doesn't like us," Rose said sadly.

"At first I didn't like you all that much remember, but you grew on my like a fungus," Anders said shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't think it will be like that, why is he so standoffish?" Rose asked.

"I think it is in his nature. He has been part of so many wars, it turned him bitter. He doesn't truly trust anyone. That is part of mercenary life anyways; we can't trust anyone, but our fellow soldiers. People in our line of work will never be heroes and he knows it to well. He has bled for some many different countries know without being given credit or respect and viewing so many horrors it can make anyone bitter," Anders said with a sigh.

"That may be true, but he shouldn't be like that to his allies," Rose said going into deep thought.

"Perhaps he doesn't see you as allies; maybe he just sees a shadow of what was. You don't carry the same grace that the legends say you have, but eh I think you all are fine," Anders said with a yawn.

"Thanks Anders," Rose said with a smile.

Suddenly a car honked its horn. "Let's go already!" Pequod sang.

"Coming!" Anders yelled as he walked towards the jeep.

Screams of terror came from a small village in the middle of a large dry savanna. Smoke and ash flew through the air; animals ran away from the village. Even hawks fly away from it. A giant lizard like creature with jagged rocks pointing out of its back destroyed a hut. A human was kicked through the walls of a straw hut. Walking through the smoke was Black Opal smiling proudly.

"Ah nothing is more satisfying than the sweet rush of the destruction," Black Opal said breathing in the smoke.

Black Opal walked towards a big building being took apart by a mutant, he walked inside it and stared at a TV. "Hey human what is this?" He asked as he poked at the screen. "Oh yeah they are all gone, oh well, I'm going to watch it."

The theme music for the news play while another building got destroyed.


	8. Moonless Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wish I wrote more of the drunk captain

The Moonless Sea

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders yawned and twirled a gun on one of his fingers as he stared off into the distance. He lied back on the roof of the hanger and listened to some music. The sun slowly set in the distance and the complex became quieter. A lone jeep was heard driving off in the distance leaving a small dust cloud. There was no gun fire or the sounds of marching recruits, it was peaceful. A small cloud of cigarette smoke came out of a window in the Mission Control building. An occasional beep from the radar dish could be heard, as well the clatter of dishes from the mess hall. A breeze blew through the base sending dust fly. A loud angry scream came from inside the hanger. Anders sighed and climbed down into the anger just as Pearl threw a broom onto the ground in frustration. Amethyst laughed at her from the safety of her pile of scrap metal.

"It is impossible to clean this place!" Pearl yelled as she fell onto her knees.

A pile of car parts suddenly collapsed and scattered the parts across the floor. "No I spent three hours on that!" Pearl sobbed.

"Now you know why we use this hanger as a punishment," Anders said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked getting up.

"Well we stick new recruits in here if they are mess behaving or not doing so hot in the courses, you know to toughen them up or make them break. They barely make for four days before they want out, this one guy named Vephix Pro in Intelligence stayed in for six days," Anders said as stared at a dirty mattress.

"Vephix Pro?" Amethyst repeated confused.

"Yeah we can't figure out if it is a nickname or his real name," Anders replied. "Umm Pearl there is some oil stains on your shirt."

Pearl screamed in terror and ran off. Anders and Amethyst looked at each other and laughed as Pearl ran towards the forest where Rose was.

Marcus's wheel chair creaked as he approached. "Anders we got a big problem!" Marcus yelled before going on a coughing fit.

Anders ran towards him. "Marcus calm down think about your lungs," Anders said worried.

"Screw my lungs we got a problem," Marcus said as he stopped coughing. "The rigs have gone silent."

"What?" Anders asked surprised.

"They just went black, no communications, no cameras, nothing," Marcus said dramatically.

"I will mobilize a squad and bring the gems just in case he shows up," Anders said as he pulled out his device. "Yo Amethyst, Garnet let's move out!"

Amethyst hopped off her pile. "Come on Garnet let's go!" Amethyst yelled excitedly.

Garnet emerged out of a pile of scrap metal. "Ok," Garnet said casually.

Rose and Pearl walked down the air strip. "Anders do you have a hose Pearl wants to wash the oil off herself," Rose said as Pearl tried to rub the oil off.

"Where we are going we won't need a hose," Anders said as he walked down the strip.

"Oh we have a mission," Rose said surprised.

"Yup," Anders said with a sigh.

"But aren't the helicopters this way," Rose said confused.

"We won't need those ether," Anders said with a sigh.

The gems followed Anders to an opening in the fence. Anders hopped into a jeep with NATOs logo on it with the gems and started to drive down the beach. Sun slowly set and reflected on the ocean. The waves slowly crashed against the sandbars. A cool tropic breeze blew sand through the air. The jeep drove into a large cave with a cove in it. On the water was a military cruiser.

"Wow how did you get that, that, that thing?" Pearl asked surprised.

"We stole it from the US army during the Gulf War and pinned it on the Iraqis," Anders said casually.

"So can you sail it?" Rose asked.

"I won't, but the drunk will," Anders picked up a brick and through it through a window of the ship.

"Argh! Who goes there?" A voiced yelled out from the ship.

"Sober up captain, time to ship off to rigs!" Anders yelled as he boarded the ship.

"But it is night sir!" The voice complained.

"Just do it!" Anders yelled a bit ticked off.

After a while the ship finally set course. The sun had finally set and the moon had taken its place. The moons faint glow reflected off the water making everything seem brighter. Small calm waves bobbed back and forth. The soldiers and crew moved through the ship, echos from their boots could be heard across the ship. A lone albatross flew through the sky and disappeared over the clouds. Anders stared off into the distance and took a deep breath. The air was warm and humid and a heavy fog gathered above the ocean. Dark clouds drifted through the sky lazily, they occasionally blocked the pale light of the moon. The moons light disappeared all the sudden. Anders looked up and saw pure black clouds with beams of electricity flowing through them covering the sky. As the boat continued to go forward the water turned a pure black color as well. Bolts of lightning struck the water around the ship, yet not a single drop of rain fell. Dead fishes floated up to the surface of the ocean. The wave grew more violent and crashed against the ship. The roar could be heard for miles arounds. Anders sighed and walked inside the ship. He walked into a room holding squads of soldiers and the gems. The soldiers quietly spoke with each while the gems stood in the back of room. Anders pulled out his device and put on the table making a holographic image of the rigs.

"Attention everyone," The soldiers stopped talking. "Thank you as many of you already know our mission to secure the mining rigs off the coast of Africa. About eight hours ago the mining rigs went black, no communications, no signals, or transmissions have been intercepted in this time period. The last transmissions before the rig went black as well as the current climate led us to the conclusion that Black Opal infiltrated the rigs and has taken over," A squad leader shuddered in fear. "The last transmission stated that the base was being assaulted and that was it. If it is Black Opal the chance of finding survivors are very slim, the maximum is ten people," Rose frowned and stared at the ground. "We were able to link into the security footage and saw two devices being placed on the rigs, one on the roof of the central rig and one on the drill of the third rig," The screen changed to a map of the two rigs. "The rigs are very closed in and compact, navigating and fighting shall be a challenge there is more information about how we will deal with it on the mission. We need these rigs taken back as soon as possible, they rigs produce the materials for our special alloy weapons," The screen changed to an array of different metals. "We are not sure how Black Opal found the rig, but that is not important," Anders explained as he read off case file.

"Bet that psychopath Marcus had something to do with it," One of the soldiers whispered to the person next to him.

The gems heard this and stared at the soldier confused; they then looked over and saw Anders glaring at the soldier.

Anders slowly walked over to the soldier. "What is it sir?" The soldier asked confused.

Suddenly Anders slammed the soldier's head into the table and held the soldier's arm up as if he was about to break it, the soldier looked up at the commander in terror as other soldiers backed away. "I got a question for you," Anders said coldly. "Marcus is one of our best allies and one of our fiercest supporters why would he betray us?"  
"I…I…do…don't know?" The soldier sobbed nervously.

"Exactly, I could trail you for insubordination for saying that," Anders said angered. "I hate big mouth punks like you. All you young recruits are the same so over confident and cocky. Do you think your confidence will save you on the battlefield, because let tell something it won't. War is hell, your confidence and big mouth won't save you from the barrel of a gun. Now if you are going to speak, don't do it my presence," Anders hissed as he released the soldier. "Your mission briefs are on the table head out."

The squad leaders grabbed the briefs and walked off, they gems walked over to Anders. "Whoa what was that?" Amethyst asked sounding both surprised and excited.

"Nothing I just hate it when people call Marcus a psychopath," Anders said with a sigh. "I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for Marcus."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked clearly interested.

"Well because of Marcus's work I was able to rise through the ranks and improve my skills much quicker," Anders said, but then he turned a bit red. "And he introduced me to Pepper and helped us get married."

Anders looked down at his boots as Rose smiled brightly. "But I don't understand why they would call him insane, in fact he seems the most sane of all of you," Pearl said putting a finger on her chin.

"Well it happened three years ago, Marcus wanted to do in-depth research on the fighting patterns of corrupt gems and compare it to when they were still gems. But the test went wrong," Anders said sounding sadder. "The corrupt gems got out and ran amok on the compound, some soldiers say he did it on purpose and that he would do anything to advance his research, that he would leave us all dead in exchange for a rock, but I don't believe that, neither did Twentieth, I just hate it when punks ran their mouth about things they will never understand."

"It's ok Anders," Rose said trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah I know, now about your part of the mission," Anders said shaping up. "Rose you and Amethyst are on the ship, you two will guard it from any corrupt gems. If we lose the ship we lose our way back. Garnet and Pearl you two are with me our main goal is to capture and deactivate the device on the roof so we can call in air support. Our suspensions lead to the belief that the device is making that storm outside. The squads will help us get to the device and recapture the rig. We have three squads of fifteen. One squad with us, the other two are on securing and recapturing the other rigs. Rose and Amethyst this unfortunately leaves you two on the boot without back up."

"This cannot be," Pearl objected out of nowhere. "No matter how good your strategy may be we cannot risk Rose safety. I shall stay behind with her and Amethyst."

"Can't do that, we need your skill set in the rigs," Anders said taking a more authority tone.

"Then Rose can come with us then," Pearl said sounding more angry.

"Roses skills would only hold us back on the rig," Anders said in the same tone.

"No she wouldn't!" Pearl yelled, she was about to continue when Rose put a hand on her shoulder.

"Pearl," Rose said sternly.

"But Rose," Pearl said calming down, she sounded a bit nervous.

Pearl yielded under Rose gaze and calmed down. "Fine," Pearl said pouting a bit.

"Thank you," Rose smiled.

Pearl blushed a little bit and looked away from Rose; she was snapped back into reality by Anders snapping his fingers. "Come on I have to gear up we will be at the rig in twenty five minutes, Garnet Pearl come on," Anders said as he left the room.

Rose waved goodbye as the two left the room. Anders and the two walked down the brown metal corridor. The metal creaked loudly through the ship; outside of the corridors was the sound of thunder. Mumbles from conversations echoed through the ship. Anders and the gems walked into a large room near the bottom of the ship. Inside of it were creates full of random supplies, Anders walked over to one and opened it. He stared at the wide array of weapons inside; he picked up two shotguns and put them on his person.

"You use those guns the most often," Garnet said taking notice of his choice.

"You noticed," Anders said surprised.

Garnet didn't say anything. "Eh I like shotguns, they are damn good guns. Good at killing people and really good at killing gems. I rarely get to use them though," Anders said as he put one shotgun on his waist and the other on his back. "The secret is not penetration, but the spread; it hurts a lot more to have ten shells stuck in your body then one going through your limbs."

Anders shrugged and picked up a few smoke bombs and put them in a bag attached to his belt. Anders pulled out a flak jacket and night vision goggles lastly and put it on. Anders and the gems walked outside to the deck as the rigs came into view. The clouds became even darker, bolts of lightning hit the ocean yet still not a drop of rain fell. The waves became more violent and the fog rose. The moon was still blocked out by the clouds. Anders sighed and turned on his goggles. The ship stopped under the rig by a loading dock. The squads and gems walked off the boat, the boat moved back away from the rigs. The squads organized and pulled out their guns. Everything was silent, the metal creaked and the crane hooks were pushed through the air. The waves crashed against the pillars of the rigs. The lights were out and the drills were off. In the distance was the sound of music playing. A soldier slowly walked forward towards the stairs. A heavy tension hung in the air, with every step it felt worse. Suddenly a creature jumped out of a pile of creates and jumped on the soldier. It was very small and had jagged rocks and crystals poking out of its back. It hands only had three talon like fingers. It eyes were shattered and cracked and its mouth was a vortex spike. It screeched and pounded on the soldier. Suddenly the beasts head was blown off; it fell off the soldier and stumbled around for a brief moment before poofing. The soldiers turned around to see Anders blowing on his shotgun, he then turned his head and saw a camera that was still recording, and he shot it. Anders walked over and placed the gem in a metal container. The soldiers shaped up and they began walking up a flight of stairs. They reached the platform of the first rig; a loud chorus of hisses filled the air. The figures of the same beasts as before formed in the fog. One of the beasts leaped out of the fog and charged at Anders. Anders shot at the beast poofing it, as another one leapt out of the fog. One leapt out from behind the railings of rig and charged at Garnet. Garnet grabbed the corrupt gem and smashed it into the ground making it poof. Pearl ran into the fog and summoned her spear; she disappeared in the fog, suddenly the fog blown away. In the middle of the clearing was Pearl holding her spear with three of the corrupt gems, Pearl made her spear disappear as all three of the gems poofed. Anders rolled his eyes as he blasted the head off another beast. Another wave of them ran across a bridge, the soldiers took cover and organized. A barrage of bullets destroyed the wave of beasts; Anders noticed another wave coming from the central rig and walked over towards them. He pulled out a smoke bomb and pulled the clip. He casually walked forward as the smoke cloud filled the bridge. The beasts ran into the cloud, four rounds being fired were heard and that was it. Anders emerged out of the cloud, but nothing else did. A larger version of the previous corrupt gems leapt off the top of one of the drills and charged at Garnet. Garnet grabbed the corrupt gems fists and sent electricity threw the gem making it poof. Pearl summoned two of her spears and charged at a wave of the gems. She gracefully leapt over their heads and charged a blast through one her spears, she blast the corrupt gems. She landed behind the survivors of the attack. They turned to her and leapt towards her. She stabbed one of them and threw it into the crowd of corrupt gems. While they were confused Pearl appeared right next to them and cut them in perfect symmetrical halves. A single bullet travel through the air and pierced through the head of the last beast. The gems of the beasts were collected. The squads spilt up and walked down different bridges. Anders and the gems stayed back on the first rig as squad one walked into the central rig. They entered a near empty building on the rig. It was dark and cold; the air was heavy and humid. A proud singing voice came from the rafters. The soldiers nervously looked around the room as the squad leader started to record and transmitted it to Anders. Black Opal leapt down from the top of the darkness of ceiling and slammed into the ground. The soldiers pointed their guns at it as Black Opal kept singing.

The squad leader stepped forward. "What is going on here?" The squad leader asked remaining calm.

Black Opal stopped singing and laughed. "Nothing, but science, improvement, perfection," Black Opal paused and smiled sadistically. "And genocide want in?"

Black Opal made a loud slurping noise and stared at the soldiers with the same smile. "I think I'm going to be sick," A soldier said.

"So fellas what brings to my neighborhood?" Black Opal asked casually.

"You took over our rig and killed our men here," The squad leader said coldly.

"Killing oh no you got me all wrong. They are doing," Black Opal smiled once again. "Other work now."

"Why just why?" The squad leader asked confused.

"Three reasons. One I was asleep for like five thousand years and had a rude awaken so I am understandingly pissed, two nothing is more satisfying then watching my enemies and their leaders grove at my feet begging for mercy that they will never receive," Black Opal said that part extra coldly. "And three I really want you to pay attention to this one."

Black Opal stopped talking and kicked a soldier into the wall. He then flipped into the air and grabbed another soldier and slammed him into the ground. Black Opal pulled the arm of the soldier next to him out of the socket. The squad leader shot a round into Black Opals face, piercing his check. Black Opal turned around and merely smiled at the action.

"And reason three that was just a warm up," Black Opal said excitedly.

"You're sick," The squad leader growled.

"Ugh as if I haven't heard that one before," A rhino horn fell out of Black Opal cloak. "Oops wasn't supposed to drop that yet."

The squad leader calmed down. "As much as it disgusts me to say, we do share one thing in common," The squad leader said.

"Oh do tell," Black Opal said still excited.

The squad leader shot Black Opal in the chest. "The over whelming desire to kill each other," The squad leader said proudly.

Black Opal merely walked it off. "Oh aren't you precious," Black Opal said as he charged.

Black Opal kicked a soldier into the ground and dodged a round. Black Opal grabbed a soldier and threw him into the wall as a barrage of bullets came towards him. Black Opal leapt into the air and came crashing into the ground hitting a few soldiers. Black Opal ripped out a sheet of metal from the ground and used at as shield from the bullets. He charged forward and slammed the soldiers in the wall. Black Opal jumped in the air and threw his shield at the squad knocking him down.

"Oh no I cannot fight anymore I give," The squad leader said over dramatically.

"Ah submission my second favorite form of defeat," Black Opal said as he landed.

"Wait before you finish me off, how about you tell me everything about you?" The squad leader asked hopefully.

"Finally someone asking about me," Black Opal said happily. "Usually they only ask why."

The squad leader shuddered. "Well to start off with I bet you are already familiar with my colleges the diamonds and my creations. So I won't have to go to deep into that, but I always hated the diamonds. They weren't smart enough, weren't ruthless, all they cared about was keeping things in order and continuing the species and blah blah blah. It was boring, dumb, and weak. I was smarter than anyone else on the planet yet I was always over looked because they thought I was replaceable. But it was them who were weak, they lacked intimidation. They thought their names were all to silence a room. I did not like that; I wanted that, I needed that. I couldn't do it to Homeworld at first, so that is why I liked Earth so much, I made it become a place of improvement. A world of pure perfection, it was chaotic, it was unique, it was my prize, but Homeworld still thought it was theirs. And then those rebels showed up and ruined my plans, so I did the rational thing of bubbling myself and waiting until I could be awoken, by my lab collapsed and I wasn't woken up at the right time. When an Earthquake hit the creator over five thousand years already passed, but it turned out to be a good thing, because now I can start phase two you…," Black Opal noticed the squad leader reaching for a handgun, Black Opal gasped happily. "Oh my nonexistent diamond you got me to monologue how adorable."

Black Opal picked up the squad leader and his device went off. "Pearl can you make me some knives!" Anders yelled as he pulled off his head phones that were listening to the conversation.

"Umm yes, but why do you need them?" Pearl asked confused by the sudden outburst.

"No time just do it!" Anders yelled nervously.

"Umm ok," Pearl said as she summoned an array of knives from her gems.

"I don't understand why we," The squad leader was thrown into a wall next to Pearl.

Anders and the gems looked down the bridge and saw Black Opal standing in the middle of it. "Hello friends," Black Opal said with a big smile.

Anders stared at Black Opal in anger and horror. "Don't you feel that?" Anders asked as he stared at the gem.

Garnet nodded and summoned her gauntlets looking much more serious. "What do you two mean?" Pearl asked confused.

Anders and the gems stared at Black Opal in shock as a strong wind came in and blew the cloak back. He was much more buffer than before, jagged rocks and crystals formed an armor around his body. Parts of his body were twisted and strange. His fingers looked like talons and his black gem had a metal device over it. His face was covered in diamond like glow. He hummed and casually walked over to the three.

He casually walked place Anders ignoring him. "How, how far did you mutate yourself?" Anders asked in shock.

Black Opal merely glanced back. "Far enough," Black Opal said coldly, suddenly Garnet rushed towards him and punched him in the face, he only budged a little. "And we have our first taker; let's show her what she won."

Black Opal smiled cockily as he grabbed Garnets arm and threw her into a wall. Garnet flipped midair and glared at Black Opal as she launched herself off the wall and flew towards Black Opal. Black Opal tapped a foot on the ground as he waited for the attack when he suddenly was shot in the back of his head by a stone faced Anders. Black Opal glared at Anders, forgetting about Garnet. Garnet punched him down the bridge. Pearl focused and summoned her spear and ran down the bridge. Black Opal growled angrily and slammed his fist into the ground making the bridge fall apart, but Pearl gracefully leapt into the air and landed on Black Opal back, she smiled confidently and rapidly stabbed him in the back. Black Opal looked merely annoyed as he grabbed Pearl and threw her away. Anders shot a few rounds into Black Opal. The rounds went into his armor making it crack, Black Opal glared at Anders and charged. Anders smirked as if he was awaiting the attack and pulled out a smoke bomb and pulled the clip. The smoke cloud filled the platform, Black Opal entered and everything went silent. The smoke cloud floated away and on the ground kneeling was Black Opal with knives stabbed through his body. Anders spun a gun on his finger and laughed smugly. Black Opal grunted in pain and held his knife wounds.

"You think this is funny, you think this is funny?" Black Opal grunted in pain, Anders continued to laugh. "Not as funny as the look on your face," Black Opal said sounding much calmer.

The machine over Black Opal's gem glowed green. Green lines stretched across his body and he increased in size. His muscles grew and he became taller. Beams of electricity ran through his body and the rocks became more jagged and extended forward, a savage look formed on Black Opal face as the knives fell out of his body. A cold wind filled the air as he stood back up and punched the air in front of him. Anders growled annoyed and pointed the shotgun point blank at Black Opal's head.

Black Opal merely smirked and looked down at the human. "Now if you are going to shoot me, I want you to make it your best shot, because I won't give you another chance to do this," Black Opal chided.

Anders glared and shot Black Opal. His head was pushed back by a single inch. A large smile formed as a shock look took over Anders face. A punishing kick sent Anders flying into a create, the impact left an Anders sized imprint on the create. A few more test punches filled the air in front of Black Opal. The roar of thunder came from the background, Garnet charged at Black Opal. She punched him directly in the face pushing Black Opal back only a little bit. He shook it off like it was nothing and charged back at her. A spear was thrown between the two making Black Opal jump back. A ball of energy suddenly appeared overhead and blast Black Opal. A smoke cloud formed where he once stood, a figure launched out of the smoke and tackled Garnet into one of the shipping containers. A sadistic smile formed on Black Opals face as he leapt back, dodging a right hook from Garnet. A look of anger formed on Garnets face as he taunted her with a movement of two fingers. She grabbed the shipping container and threw it at Black Opal. Surprised by this, Black Opal was hit back by the container pushing him back. Light footsteps came from behind him, Black Opal turned around and grabbed Pearl's spear as she charged at him. Black Opal elbowed a surprised Pearl into the ground and kicked her. A barrage of bullets struck Black Opal in the back pushing him back. His head bolted around in anger and saw Garnet and Anders standing on top of the shipping container. He leapt towards the two obviously annoyed, Garnet remained stone faced and grabbed Anders and leapt into the air above Black Opal. Anders pulled out his second shot and held it in his left hand. A power blast came from the two guns, slamming Black Opal into the container, Anders grunted in pain due to the heavy recoil. One of the shotguns slipped out Anders hand and landed on top of Black Opal. He grabbed the shotgun and pointed it towards Garnet and Anders. A single round was shot; Anders winced in pain as the bullet pierced his leg, Garnet grunted and the two fell on the ground. Pearl ran towards the two, a worry look on her face. The shotgun was thrown into the ocean and Black Opal approached the three humming some unknown song.

"Pearl we have to end this quickly," Garnet said a blood spilt out of Anders wound. "We have to fuse."

An excited look formed on Pearls face, but that quickly dismissed. She nodded and the two started to dance. Black Opal charged forward, but he was stopped by a shot to the face from Anders. A bright light came from behind Anders. A giant woman stood in the place of Garnet and Pearl. She was very tan, had multiply arms and eyes, the most surprising thing about her was her extravagant magicians outfit. A surprised look appeared on both Anders and Black Opals face. He growled and charged at the giant woman, she had an angry look on her face and summoned her war hammer. In a single swing she struck Black Opal into the ocean, in another arm she grabbed Anders. The woman leapt off the rig and landed on the cruiser. The boat bobbed down into the water, filling the deck with water. Rose and Amethyst rushed to the deck as Garnet and Pearl unfused. The blood from Anders wound was still coming, he grunted in pain. Rose leaned down and single tear fell from her eye. The bullet fell out of Anders wound and the wound closed in an instant. Suddenly Anders device beeped.

"Sir this is squad leader two we have secured the platforms how is it going on the device," The squad leader waited for a response. "Sir?"

Anders and the gems stared at the rigs in silence.


	9. Sherman Blood and Judgement Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By the force some of the drama in this chapter was forced, more than usual, don't worry the prequel arc is almost finished and my writing does improve from there, please note this was from roughly a year and a half ago and I never wrote fanfics before

Sherman Blood and Judgement Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Ander and the mercs)

The coffee machine dripped in the background. A heavy tension filled the air of the meeting room. Anders, Marcus and Twentieth sat at a round table in the middle of the room overlooking a map of Central Africa. The map was filled with red dots and in the middle of it was a large circle. Twentieth pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He took a long drag and looked at Marcus.

"So you were able to pinpoint Black Opal location," Twentieth said breaking the silence.

"Yes sir he is in a deserted region of central Africa, the government has given us full permission to whatever we wish to secure his eradication," Marcus said as he pulled out a mission brief. "The region he has been sighted contains over sixty acres of land we have to comb through, but our aerial scouting reports have led us to believe that he is in a temple in the center of the region. The region is filled with mutants and natural wildlife as well as many deserted villages, the villages serve as relay points between the monsters. They move to different villages at certain points of the day. We have also found out a weakness that we can exploit," Anders looked more interested. "The substance that mutants the corrupt gems is highly flammable, a single match can make them blow up," Anders smiled as soon as he heard the word flammable.

"Hmm so what is the plan to take down Black Opal?" Twentieth asked as he blew a few smoke rings.

"That is where Anders takes over," Marcus said as he glanced at the commander.

"Thank you sir. Before I can give out my plan, I have a request," Anders said seriously.

"What is it?" Twentieth asked rising as eyebrow.

"I want permission for complete and total warfare," Anders said seriously.

Everything went silent, the coffee stopped dripping. Marcus looked surprised and stared at Twentieth; he merely put his cigarette out and stared at Anders in silence. The smoke from the cigarette lingered in the air dancing in the light. The coffee machine started to drip again as the smoke disappeared.

"I give you permission; you have full access to our soldiers and armory," Twentieth said breaking the silence.

"Good before I can continue let me deal with the onlookers," Anders walked to the door and opened it.

Pearl and Amethyst fell off the door and into the meeting room. "Anders it's not what it looks like," Pearl said trying to defend herself.

A bullet flew through her hair making the two run off. "Thanks Twentieth," Anders said as he closed the door.

"How much longer do we have to watch these things," Twentieth said with a sigh.

"Not much longer, the sooner we deal with Black Opal the sooner I can refocus on infiltrating their temple," Anders said as he sat back down at the table.

"And my research on them is almost finished," Marcus added.

"Let's move on," Twentieth said as twirled the handgun on his finger.

Pearl and Amethyst ran all the way back to the hanger. The sun was already setting as the two ran down the dirt trails. Soldiers ran down the dirt roads alongside the gems as the drill sergeant yelled from ahead of them. Other soldiers sat alongside the road in front of their bunkhouses polishing guns. Music from Pequod's radio played in the distance. The man himself was sleeping on top of the roof mess hall; the sun was busy making him look even tanner. A few soldiers huddled in circles and traded cigarettes, smiling with each exchange. Workers came out of the forest stained with dirt and concreate. The smell of food being cooked filled the air; rats climbed the trashcans outside of the mess hall and tried to chew through the chicken wire windows. The last bullets flew through the firing range, the practice targets were riddled with holes. Flocks of birds flew into the forest, completely disappearing. The cargo plane was inside the hanger taking up most of the space in said hanger. Garnet sat on the wings of the cargo plane staring at the humans as they lifted creates out of the planes. Rose sat on top of a rock and stared at the setting sun. She looked over and saw Pearl with a hole in her hair and Amethyst running towards her.

"Pearl what happened to your hair?" Rose asked concerned.

"Twentieth shot me," Pearl said as she made the hole disappear.

"Why?" Rose asked surprised.

"We were spying on another one of their meetings," Amethyst said casually as she climbed on her pile of scrap metal.

"Pearl," Rose said sounding a bit passive aggressive.

"Well I don't like being kept out of the loop," Pearl said pouting a bit. "Those humans have no right to treat us like we are nothing."

"Yes they have been a bit hostile to us, but things have been improving," Rose said trying to cheer Pearl up.

"Like how?" Pearl asked.

Rose went silent. "They shouldn't be treating you like this," Pearl said with a sigh.

"That may be true," The gems turned around and saw Anders walking over. "But I wouldn't be surprised by all this hostility."  
"What do you mean," Pearl asked confused.

"You all are foreign elements that are highly volatile and highly unpredictable, if something went wrong here you four would be blamed first," Anders explained.

"Anders how did the meeting go?" Rose asked as she got off the rock.

"Good we move out at dawn?" Anders said with a yawn.

"Good to hear, I can rest much more easily after we defeat Black Opal," Rose said with a sigh.

"You and me both," Anders said as he pulled out a soda can.

"What's that?" Rose asked as she stared at the can.

"Soda, have you ever had it before?" Anders asked surprised.

"No may I have some?" Rose asked hopefully.

"Sure," Anders tossed the can to Rose.

She stared at the can confused, eventually she opened it. She took a quick sip and suddenly went quiet. She stared into the distance not saying anything for a few moments. Pearl stared at her confused and worried.

"What did you do to her?" Pearl asked concerned.

"Wait for it," Anders said casually.

"That was amazing!" Rose said as her eyes turned into stars. "Pearl try this."

Pearl took a sip and a disgusted look appeared on her face. "I hate human drinks," Pearl said as she threw the drink away.

Garnet caught the can in mid-air and took a sip. "Well?" Anders asked, Garnet merely shrugged and gave the can to Amethyst.

Amethyst threw the can into the air and it landed in her mouth. She swallowed the can and burped. Anders sighed as Rose ranted about the wonders of soda.

"I don't understand why humans like those things, it always hurt my tongue," Pearl said as she picked up an empty soda can.

"Trust me there are human drinks that can do much more than hurt your tongue," Anders said laughing a bit.

"Can I try them?" Rose asked excited.

"No, no, no," Anders repeated smirking a bit.

"Why not?" Rose asked confused.

"I fear for my safety if you ever found a pabst blue ribbon," Anders said with a yawn.

"What is a pabst blue ribbon?" Rose asked confused. "Is it a type of award?"

"I'll tell you when you're older," Anders said dismissingly. "I'm going to lie down have a nice night?"

Anders yawned and walked away. The night went by quickly. A loud trumpet played over the speakers that were scattered through camp. Anders eyes bolted open, he was covered in sweat and seemed panicked. He rubbed his eyes and got out of his small twin bed. Everything was silent in the near empty room. The concreate walls were pure gray and the wood floor was dirty and withered. Anders uniform was neatly folded on top of his footlocker at the edge of the bed. Anders walked over to his uniform and grabbed the bandanna off the pile, he stared at it. He frowned and his eyes had a forlorn look, Anders sighed and tied the bandanna around his head and walked to the window. He opened the shudders and stared at the rising sun in the distance. A crow leapt off the top of command building and flew over the compound. Large groups of soldiers in uniform were running towards the hangers. The bunkhouses emptied at rapid speeds. Workers carried boxes and create into the hanger yelling commands at each other's. Pequod sat in his helicopter mess with the gauges and switches impatiently. A nervous look filled his face as he switched on his radio and put on his oxygen mask and helmet. Squads of soldiers wearing flak jackets and gasmask sat along the landing strip prepping their weapons and gear. Marcus sat in the intelligence room with Twentieth watching the scout reports come in. Boxes of ammo were thrown inside the back of the large cargo plane, a group of soldiers wearing oxygen masks and helmets sat in the hanger staring the plane anxiously. Pequod stared at a photo of Morpho in cabin of helicopter; a tear fell under the mask. The gems stared at the humans confused trying to piece together what was happening. Squads of five jumped into the helicopters and took off flying away. Anders drove up to the gems in jeep this one with the South Africa flag on the hood.

"Anders what's going on?" Rose asked surprised by the sudden military ramifications.

"Judgement day girls," Anders said ominously.

"Huh," Amethyst said confused.

"Today we end Black Opal, you all want in?" Anders asked coyly.

"We can't let you humans have all the fun," Rose said with a slight smirk.

"Good, but can you three use a parachute?" Anders asked. "Eh never mind I will have someone teach you along the way."

"Sir the baby birds left the nest we are waiting for papa to join us," Pequod said over the radio.

"What is with the ridiculous codenames Pequod?" Anders asked as he walked to the cargo plane.

"Just trying to lighten the mood sir," Pequod said with a sigh.

The radio went silent and Anders entered the hanger. The soldiers inside saluted him and went inside of the plane's cargo. Anders put on an oxygen mask and climbed into the plane and sat on top of a box of ammo. The gems walked inside of the plane confused. The cargo door closed and drove out of the hanger. It lifted off into the air and broke through the clouds. The gems fell back and hit the door, Anders sighed in disappointment. After hours of flying the plane hung over the dry African savannah. Flocks of birds flew through the air, the sun hung over the dry plains. The air was humid and hot, suddenly gusts of wind bent the tall green down. The few and far apart trees were brown and almost looked dead. The land was void of any animals, expect for crows and vultures. Dust fly over the dirt trails, abandoned villages were scattered through the regions. The cargo door opened and a strong wind filled the cargo bay. The soldiers lined up and put on their parachutes. Anders held out a knife and started to saw through the ropes that were keeping the ammo boxes down. A soldier gulped and charged forward leaping out of the cargo plane. The gems stared at the humans in shock and slight horror as the humans jumped out of the plane. An ammo box hit the gems in the back pushing them out of the plane. Anders took a deep breath and charged out of the plane and jumped. Anders pulled out a grenade and assault rifle as he started to free fall. The soldiers lined up as they fell and pulled out their weapons. The gems screamed (excluding Garnet) as they fell, Rose formed her bubble around the three and the ammo box. Corrupt gems were scattered around the plains that the soldiers were landing towards. The soldiers in perfect unison pulled the cords on their parachutes and their parachutes unpacked. They shoot as the mutants as they fell towards the ground. Anders pulled the cord and threw his grenade down to the ground, it exploded and sent a mutant flying. Grenades rained down from the sky blowing up the plains, the grenades were followed by a sea of bullets. The mutants were blown apart; their screams of pain filled the air. The mutants tried to scatter and run, but to no avail, they fell into hole formed by the grenades, all they could do is roar pitifully as they were shot apart. The dust cleared and the grenades stopped falling, there wasn't a single mutant corrupt gem left. The land was ravaged by with new holes. The grass was destroyed and the trees had fallen, dust and dirt flew through the air. The gems plummeted on to the ground and Rose's bubble brook. Rose stared at the destruction in horror, surprised by the brutality. Anders and the soldiers landed on the ground and went to work. They took off their parachutes and oxygen masks and unloaded the ammo boxes and distributed the clips. They threw the parachutes and masks into the boxes and put a beacon on the boxes. The soldiers got into a marching formation and gathered on the dirt road.

"Ok men it's a forty kilometer march to the meeting point let's get moving!" Anders yelled as the soldiers started to move forward.

"Anders," Rose said as she walked over. "What was with all this?"

Rose pointed to the newly formed creators in the savannah. "Nothing that you should be worried about," Anders said sharply as he marched ahead of the soldiers.

The sun beat down upon the soldiers; they started to sweat through their uniforms. The sound of boots filled the deathly silent savannah. Clouds lazily flew through the sky. Vultures perched on top of a dead tree and stared at the soldiers as they marched. A horde of mutant gems that looked similar to rhinos charged towards them. Anders scoffed and pulled out a Molotov cocktail and lit it up and threw it into the tall dry grass. It instantly started to burn around, the fire stretched across the dry region burning down the grass and trees. As soon as the fire hit the mutants, they freaked out. They roared in terror and trashed, their cries filled the air. The mutants screamed and blew up fantastically, a large light came out of the burning land. Embers and cinders flew through the air as smoke climbed through the sky. The air smelt like coal, ashes flew alongside the road. After five minutes the fire stopped, some soldiers broke away from the pack and grabbed the mutant's gems. Rose stared at the scorched land in terror as if something died. Anders was smirked for a brief moment as he stared at the destroyed land, but then continued to march. The soldiers rejoined the pack and joined the march.

"We have destroyed five points already sir," Pequod said over the radio.

"Good, maybe it is just my Sherman blood, but this feels a bit natural to me," Anders said as he stared at the destroyed land.

"We are converting on point six, Blackhawk three and four are returning to the compound to resupply, Blackhawk five and six are moving to point seven, this is Blackhawk one signing off," Pequod radio went silent.

Anders nodded to himself and prepped another Molotov cocktail. The march continued. The late afternoon sun hung over the savannah, the wind became more frequent. Dust flew through the air and everything became much cooler. Crows pecked at the ground around the road. A snake slithered out of the grass and pulled a crow into the grass with it. Anders yawned and stared out in the distance. Amethyst randomly darted into the grass and pulled out rocks and bubbled them. Garnet walked alongside Anders, the two walked in silence. Pearl yawned and leaned against Rose as the two walked together. Rose smiled politely and let Pearl lean. Anders counted how many clips he had left after the third mutant attack. Everything was silent; the only noise was the sound of the marching boots. Suddenly a loud roar filled the air, the soldiers and the gems head darted towards a village where multiply mutants where. The mutants did not charge yet. The sound of helicopter blades came from above; the soldiers looked up and saw two helicopters approaching the village. They hovered for a brief moment and then unleashed a payload of missiles. The missiles hit the village blowing it up. The roars of anger turned into fear as the missiles hit their target. The explosion touched the sky; the remains of the village were on fire. Cinders and ash flew through the sky and danced on the wind. Rose stared at the sight in horror.

"This is Blackhawk one and two point six is wiped out, we are going to return to the compound for resupplying, Blackhawk three and four have returned and moving on to point eight," Pequod butted in on the radio.

"Anders what was that!" Rose yelled sounding angry.

"Nothing important," Anders said with a yawn.

"Nothing important you just blew up village!" Rose yelled as she pointed the burning remains.

"A village full of monsters," Anders said coldly, "They were in our way, and I dealt with them."

"You didn't have to destroy the village, people live there," Rose said worried.

"They monsters already ruined the village and if we went with a direct assault it would have wasted time and supplies, look Rose I didn't do anything wrong," Anders said sharply.

"Didn't do anything wrong, you just blew up a village, you could have ruined someone's life," Rose said sounding depressed. "It's unnecessarily cruel."

Anders chuckled a bit. "Unnecessarily cruel, that's hilarious. If that doesn't prove what I have been thinking all along I don't know what would have," Anders said as he placed a hand on his forehead.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked with a slight glare.

"You are weak, you have become soft," Anders said with a sudden glare. "You forgot Rose war is hell," Anders sounded more cold and angry. "Concepts like cruelty and good and evil don't exist as soon as you step foot on the battlefield. War is in itself cruelty, only a fool would try to reform it. I am saving my planet here; we have already lost a city and hundreds of innocent lives, what is an empty village compared to that. We must do what is necessary to insure we win, you should know that." Anders hissed.

Anders turned his back on Rose and walked off. Rose had a startled look on her face, surprised by his hostility. Pearl ran over to Rose her face was seething with anger.

"How dear he talk to you like that, he has no right to treat you like that, I should just," Pearl was interrupted by Rose putting a hand on her shoulder.

Garnet once again walked alongside Anders, he looked up at her with a slight glare. "What?" Anders asked still sounding angry.

Garnet didn't reply. "Oh let me guess you are here to tell me that I should be more forgiving and less cruel, that I should be so hard on Rose. Let me tell you something I am just doing my job as much as I would like to be at home lying down with my son and wife I can't. I am not a bad guy; I am doing the same thing as you three did thousands of years ago. So don't try to talk me into apologizing and groveling at Rose feet," Anders said sounding stressed out. "This total warfare stuff just come naturally to me, it is just my Sherman blood, but hey at least it is damn effective."

"It's ok I understand," Garnet said instantly calming Anders down.

"Thank you," Anders said exhaling in relief.

The sun had set as the soldiers climbed a large hill. They climbed to the top and looked down to see a giant clearing full of mutant gems in the middle of it was a giant stone temple. The grass and trees were destroyed; dust and dirt flew through the air with every step the mutant gems labored. It was cold out now and the sky was completely clear. The moon was a crimson red. A cool wind sent dust flying throw the air. The dry grass whistled in the wind. Anders and the soldiers sat down on the ground and took a much deserved rest. After an hour another group of fifty soldiers joined Anders group. Anders and the soldiers walked down the hill and waited for something. The soldiers looked tired and exhausted, some even dozed off. Their savannah camo uniforms were stained with dirt, mud, and sweat. A hundred and twenty soldiers sat alongside the hill waiting. After another hour of resting the cargo plane was heard from overhead. In a matter of seconds shipping creates and boxes full of supplies and weapons were parachuted down from the sky. Anders opened the creates and distrusted heavy machine guns, lmgs, assault shotguns, grenade launchers, and rocket launchers to the soldiers. Anders gave Garnet a flamethrower and tossed Pearl and Amethyst a few Molotov cocktails. Anders grabbed a high tech looking grenade launcher and a combat shotgun for himself. He then put on a full set of riot gear and stared at his men. A few soldiers holding mini guns climbed back up to the top of the hill. Anders followed with his soldiers. The gems stared at their nearly gained weapons confused, Garnet pulled the trigger and a stream of fire came out. Pearl and Amethyst jumped back while a small smirk appeared on Garnets face. They joined Anders at the top of the hill and stared at the scene. In the distance the sound of helicopter filled the sky. Six Blackhawk helicopters appeared in the sky and hung over the clearing. In a split second a barrage of missiles rained down from the sky and filled the clearing a storm of explosions. The grass was set on fire making the mutant gems roar in pain, they charged at the hill hooting in pain and anger. Suddenly dark clouds formed in the sky and rain fell. Anders growled in annoyance and waited for the mutants to get closer. The missile payload ended and the helicopters changed to their Gatling guns and started to rain bullets upon the monsters. The mutants roared as they got closer to the hill. Anders made a single hand sign and the soldiers went stone-face, they knelt down and opened fire. A barrage of artillery rained down from the hill, explosions from the grenades and rockets kept the beasts from getting any traction, the mutants fell back and tripped on the newly formed holes in the ground. The dry dirt turned into mud making the corrupt gem move slower. Anders was yelling commands, but they could barely be heard over the bullets. Corrupt gems poofed before they could even make it to the base of the hill. The sounds of battle roared through the night sky. Suddenly a white fog slowly started to creep out of the temple in the center of the clearing, the soldiers put on their gasmasks as the fog made its way towards the hill. A bolt of lightning struck the ground near the right flank making the soldiers around there scatter. Noticing this weak point a giant four armed humanoid mutant with jagged rocks scattered through its body leapt into the air trying to attack, Garnet noticed this corrupt gem and leapt into the air to confront it. Garnet smirked as she sucker punched the corrupt gem in the stomach making it fly backwards and crash into the ground. She took off the flamethrower she had and threw it at the corrupt gem at a high speed. Upon impact the flamethrower blew up setting the mutant on fire. The mutant blew up, Garnet landed and collected the gem and bubbled it just as the right flank got back in order. Anders smiled confidently as he watched the army of mutant's poof right in front of him. Suddenly the mutants backed away and ran towards the temple. The battlefield went silent and the mutants stopped fighting, the soldiers took this opportunity to reload and prep their weapons. A single figure appeared in the fog, the sound of clapping filled the still battlefield as well as a proud singing voice. Anders glared at the figure and looked towards the gems; they nodded and leapt into towards the figure. Anders pulled out the high tech grenade launcher and walked towards it. The gems and Anders surrounded a clapping Black Opal.

"Bravo, bravo what a spectacular performance from the misfit army let's give them a round of applause," Black Opal's voice sounded much younger and he appeared more buff. "This is just a wonderful thing to see, ants trying to take down a god. I just love this sight."

"You seem much calmer than expected," Anders said trying to hold back his surprise.

"Oh I am seething with rage, but I can't let the peasants see their future king in such a poor light, don't want the soon to be dead media hearing about," Black Opal said with a smile.

"Your quote on quote army could barely take down a small army of humans, how do you think you can take over homeworld, please just give up before it gets worse," Rose warned as she unsheathed her sword.

"Well you see these humans had the drop on me, but as soon as I finish the acid rain boom no more filthy mud beings trying to fight me, but you do bring up a good point how will I ever deal with Homeworld army, that question drove me mad, but then boom a sudden solution hit me like so," Black Opal threw a device into the air, bolts of electricity flew out of the device towards the gems.

Rose summoned her bubble while the bolts hit the other gems, they instantly poofed, the gems screamed in pain as they were poofed. "And that is how I will deal with Homeworld's, you see I got this one poison that will literally melt gems, physical form, the real gem, it will just melt it. You should totally watch me use it I think I might try it on the purple one, I never liked the purple one," Black Opal said as he walked towards their gems.

Anders appeared right next to Black Opal and pointed the grenade launcher at his chest. "Don't you dare touch them," Rose said with a glare.

Anders nodded in agreement. "Ok commander remember how this went for you last time not even the fusion and the servant could defeat me, so if you are going to even try make it your best shot ok, because I would hate to kill you in such a simple way," Black Opal taunted. "I always pictured having you strung up to a tree and shot by your favorite ah!"

A spike pierced through Black Opal armor, he stared at Anders in shock. "How?" Black Opal said seething with anger.

Anders smirked and rolled back as the spike exploded and pushed Black Opal backwards. Small cracks formed in Black Opals armor as he glared at Rose and Ander. Small vines wrapped around Black Opals leg as Rose dashed forwards towards him, Black Opal nearly caught her blade, and he gritted his teeth and tried to throw Rose when she formed her bubble pushing Black Opal. Another spike pierced through his armor this time in his shoulder. The explosion ripped and destroyed Black Opals cloak. Anders smirked as a look of pure fury formed on Black Opals face. Black Opal charged forward towards Anders. He merely smirked and pulled out a smoke bomb, he pulled the pin. The smoke cloud instantly formed, Black Opal flew through the cloud, upon reaching the other Rose was there and smacked Black Opal to the ground with her shield. A backflip kick sent Rose flying backwards, Black Opal got back on his feet and looked around for Anders. A knife was stabbed through one of the cracks in his armor; Black Opal looked down and saw Anders jamming a knife into his stomach region. Black Opal put his fist together and slammed Anders into the ground, Anders grunted in pain as he rolled on to his. A handful of mud hit Black Opal in the eyes blinding him; three shotgun blasts hit Black Opal in the face making him step back. A shield flew across the clearing hitting Black Opal in the chest. Black Opal coughed out spit when suddenly Rose slashed him across the chest. A sucker punch temporally disabled Rose as Black Opal grabbed her sword and threw it away. Three spike grenades pierced Black Opal in the back each one of them exploding in perfect unison. Black Opal screamed in anger as he turned around and saw Anders standing there glaring at him. He charged forward and kneed Anders in the stomach, sending Anders crashing into a rock. Anders coughed and held his wounds; he groggily stood up and pointed the shotgun at Black Opal. Rounds after rounds were fired, but Black Opal merely shrugged the rounds off. Suddenly vines formed around Black Opal legs and pulled him into the ground. Anders saw Rose's sword and grabbed it and charged at Black Opal. The sword went through Black Opal paralyzing him, Anders grabbed a knife from a pouch on the back of his belt and stabbed Black Opal's gem. 

"My diamond I don't want to be on Earth anymore," Black Opal said before his gem shattered apart.

"Well that was anti-climactic," Anders said between breathes.

"You just killed him!" Rose said surprised.

A green ooze spilt on Black Opal gem shards making them glow. "Never mind," Anders said as he held his ribs.

The gem shards merged together and a monstrous Black Opal formed, his limbs were switched around and his face mutilated. "I will kill you all if it is the last thing I can do!" Black Opal roared.

The beast charged at Anders and kicked him with one of his arms. Anders went flying across the clearing and slammed into the ground. Black Opal then charged at Rose. She summoned her shield and bubble trying to fend off the creature. It's messed up limbs pounded on the shell. A loud popping noise came from Anders arm; he noticed that he fell out of his socket. Anders groaned in pain and held his arm. Two bright lights shone next to him, he looked over and saw a red and blue gem. Anders started to poke at the gems with his good arm.

"Garnet, Garnet wake up I need you," Anders groaned sounding like he went through blunt force trauma.

He continued to poke at the gems as Black Opal continued to pound on Rose's shields. He picked up the bubble and threw it into the ground. The bubble disappeared; Rose rolled away dodging a punch from the monster. She got up and grabbed her sword and charged at Black Opal. A bright light appeared where Anders was lying down, a brief look of hope appeared on his face, but that was quickly dismissed when he saw two children (?) take form.

"Anders what happened?" The red one asked sounding a bit panicked.

"That doesn't matter right now I need Garnet where is she?" Anders asked groggily.

"We are Garnet," The blue one said sounding surprisingly calm.

"Garnet was a fusion never saw it coming can one of you put my arm back into the socket?" Anders asked, the two rushed to his side and instantly snapped it back into place. "Give me a warning next time," Anders hissed in pain.

"Sorry," The blue one said.

"Where are my guns?" Anders asked as he struggled to get up.

Rose was thrown across the clearing again. The beast leapt into the air and smashed her into the ground; Rose summoned her shield just in time. The beast started to pound on her shield. It sensed two new beings and turned around to see Ruby and Sapphire trying to fuse. It leapt forward and swooped in between the two. Black Opal roared and grabbed Sapphire and threw her in a giant rock. It then kicked the rock and Sapphire into the ground. Ruby roared in anger and leapt on the back of Black Opal and stared to pound on it. To no avail, Black Opal picked up Ruby threw her to the ground. A spike grenade pierced through Black Opal again, his head darted towards Anders in anger. Black Opal roared and charged towards Anders.

"Hey Opal I think you need a drink so I made you a cocktail!" Anders yelled as he threw a Molotov cocktail.

Black Opal paused for a moment to think about that statement, forgetting about the incoming explosive. The Molotov hit engulfing him in flames. His body melted for a brief moment, he tried to walk forward, but failed and landed face first on the ground. Anders walked towards Black Opal and pointed his shotgun at Black Opal's head. A look of pure raw fear was on Black Opal's face when the bullet pierced his skull. He poofed, Anders walked over to the shattered gem parts and rapidly stomped on them until they were nothing but dust. Rose and Ruby with Sapphire in her arms walked over to Anders.

"You ok Sapphire?" Ruby asked extremely worried.

"I'm fine you can put me down you know," Sapphire said smiling a little bit.

"I don't want to," Ruby said faking a pout.

Rose giggled and looked at Anders. "Are you alright?" She asked worried.

Ander flopped backwards into the mud. "I need a vacation," Anders said with a sigh.


	10. Break Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More forced drama from the bad old days, I love that I can look back at my work and just shrug this off, maybe some day I should rework and rewrite the prequel arc.

Break Up

Disclaimer: I own nothing! (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

"So how does it work?" Anders asked as he carved in the fifty third tally under the weeks carving.

"What?" Garnet asked as she leaned on the wall of the cave.

"Well how do two gems form one gem, do you just live in the head of the fusion or what?" Anders asked as he sheathed his knife.

"Well with fusion we become one single being, Ruby and Sapphire are still in here, but I am my own being," Garnet explained.

"So how did you two get together?" Anders asked as he sat down at the edge of the cave.

"Well you tell me how you and Pepper got together?" Garnet asked back playfully.

Anders blushed and pulled on the collar of his uniform. "Maybe one day," Anders said sounding flustered.

"Well there's your answer," Garnet said with a smirk.

Anders stared at the calm setting of Beach City. The bright sun was beating down on the small beachside city. Clouds lazily drifted through the sky, their shadows were providing shade for a brief moment. The ocean was at peace, not a single wave was it sight. Reggae music played from a radio in Greg's van, Greg was working on the engine of the van until a cloud of smoke hit him in the face. Seagulls perched along the arms of the giant woman statue that the statue was made out. Their squawks filled the air; the birds occasionally swooped down and took a hermit crab off the ground. The air smells like salt and French fries, a new French fry shop was opened on the board walk. Flower pelts danced through the air. Anders yawned and lied down; he listened to the reggae music and slowly drifted off. The warm sunlight entered the cave. Young couples walked down the boardwalk, their laughter filled the air. Tourist filled the street of the city snapping photos of the small shops selling tricks. Bar flies impatiently stood next to the dive bar waiting for it to open. Three kids sat outside of the pizza shop trying to act cool wearing jackets and sunglasses that were two big for them. Two kids stood at the top of the giant hill trying to pry off the boards that kept the old lighthouse closed. The bartender watched his son stumble through Shakespeare lines from a park bench, enjoying every moment of it. A young red faced mayor's assistant ran towards the office, he was struggling with all the papers he had to carry. The sound of the temple doors being opened made Anders wake up, he yawned and looked behind himself to see the rest of the gems leave the temple.

"Garnet there you are we need your help," Rose said noticing Garnet. "A bunch of objects went missing in the temple and we need your help finding them."

Garnet nodded and got up. "I can help," Anders said getting up as well.

"Umm ok Anders," Rose said surprised by the sudden gesture.

"No it's my pleasure," Anders said as he walked to the temple doors.

"First let's check Amethyst room," Rose said as Amethyst opened the door.

"Cool you guys can help me find my missing burrito," Amethyst said excited.

"Are we seriously looking for a magic burrito?" Anders asked annoyed.

"No a magic burrito would be silly," Rose said giggling a bit. "Everyone knows that only watermelons are magical."

Anders sighed and entered the temple. He stared at the giant piles of random objects. Swords floated down the river and got stuck the shore. Pearl obviously looking annoyed picked up said swords. The cave smelled like rotten food and mold with a hint of rusted metal. Some piles reached the top of the waterfall, the junk piles ranged from random rocks to car parts. Water dripped on to Anders head from random stalagmites, he rubbed his hair with his sleeves and watched a junk pile collapse. The garbage from said pile went all the way up to his knees, much to Anders discomfort. He looked up and saw a world war one fighter plane, Anders head darted back and forth as he moved towards the plane. Anders touched the controls and giggled a little bit; he straightened up and walked away. He walked over to Rose who was deep in thought.

"If it isn't in here it must be in the record room!" Rose yelled out of nowhere.

"Record room?" Anders repeated confused.

"Yes it is like what you human call a computer room," Rose answered.

"Gems had the internet," Anders said surprised.

"What's the internet?" Rose asked confused.

"Never mind just take us there," Anders said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The river split apart reviling an opening at the bottom of the river. Anders and the gems entered the opening and walked down a long sandstone stairwell. Glowing pink lines filled the sandstone walls. It was deathly silent as the gems and Anders walked down stairwell. Their footsteps echoed down the long corridor, the air smelt musty and old. Small streams of water flowed down the stairs. After a few minutes of walking they reached a giant door with the same pink lines going through it. Rose's gem glowed and the door slide open, they entered a room with a giant screen inserted in the sandstone walls. A small pond sat in the middle of the gold colored room, the water was pink and had flower petals floating in it. The pink lines connected to a single pad by the giant screen. A nervous look appeared on Anders face for a brief moment as he entered the room. Rose walked over to the pad and placed her hand on it. The screen turned bright white and activated, a file opened and was completely empty. She opened file after file and found nothing.

"How is this possible, all the files are gone," Rose said shocked.

"It's impossible only Crystal Gems can get in here who could've interfered with the files?" Pearl asked no one in particular.

"Do you think Black Opal did it?" Amethyst asked sounding worried.

"No when we check his temple his system was empty, there was nothing on, unless he hid our files somewhere else it would be impossible," Garnet answered stoically.

"Maybe something sneaked in, the camera footage is still intact," Rose said as she opened the camera footage.

"Wait there's cameras here," Anders said sounding both surprised and nervous.

"Yes they rarely pick up anything interesting though," Rose said as she combed through the footage.

Anders pulled the collar of his uniform and reached for his device. "Here we go, here is last week's footage," Rose said as she opened the recording.

Anders pulled out his device and reached into another pocket as the gems watched the footage. The screen fast forwarded through footage from multiply parts of the temple. Suddenly people in military uniforms appeared in all parts of the temple; they were wearing balaclavas and had the T.O.U logo on them. The footage focused on a soldier in the record room, he took off his balaclava and took a deep breath. He turned around and stared at the hidden camera his face was in full display, the soldier was Anders. The gems heads darted backwards and stared at Anders. It was a mixture of anger, surprise, and sadness. Rose walked forward with a confused look on her face.

"Anders what is this?" She asked sounding almost at a loss of words.

Anders pulled out a smoke bomb from his pocket and pulled the clip. The smoke cloud filled the room and the ground under Anders opened up. The ground closed and the smoke cleared. The gems looked around the room for him, but he was long gone.

"He betrayed us!" Pearl yelled seething with anger. "He stole our secrets and betrayed us. That's what we get for trusting a human."

"Maybe he had a good reason," Amethyst said sounding a bit sad.

"Like what! To turn our secrets into weapons or maybe he was trying to force us into his army!" Pearl said still not calming down. "I never trusted him!"

"Well I did! Why would he do this," Amethyst said sounding near tears.

"He was playing you!" Pearl yelled. "Rose what should we do?"

"He hasn't gotten out of town yet, let's find him and see if he can explain himself," Rose said her words sounded empty and hallow.

"Your surprisingly quiet," Pearl glared at Garnet.

Garnet didn't respond she only walked forward up the stairs. The gems quickly walked out of the temple and saw Anders standing on the beach watching the sun set. The waves crashed along the shore and a cold wind blew through the beach. All the humans were away in their houses, even Greg disappeared to somewhere else. The purplish glow reflected on the water. The birds flew off as soon as the gems step foot on the beach.

"You should have used the warp pad while you had the chance," Pearl hissed, her voice was lined with venom.

"My device ran out of battery after I radio for back up, go figure," Anders said sounding out of it.

"How dare you steal from," Pearl was interrupted by Anders.

"You and Black Opal," Anders said as he turned around to look at the gems. "We stole from both you and him."

"What?" Pearl said surprised.

"Don't act so surprised both you and him had valuable files and research that we could use," Anders said coldly.

"For what to fuel your arms race," Pearl said with a glare.

"No to protect our planet," Anders glared at the four. "All four of you have been doing a terrible job at that. Black Opal's research plus your information would help use make anti-gem weapons that could help us prevent the situation from getting that bad once again."

"What, what do you mean?" Pearl said taken off guard.

"Black Opal destroyed a city, killed our soldiers and innocent civilians, ignored people, and destroyed acres of land," Anders said with a sigh. "And we could barely do anything to stop him, now imagine if Homeworld came back. If they were more advanced, if they had an army, Earth wouldn't be ready. We did our part and sold us bullet formula, but that isn't enough. We need these files for the benefit of Earth."

"You could have just asked us for them," Rose said sounding progressively sadder.

"But would you give them to us?" Anders asked with a glare.

They didn't respond. "Exactly, you don't trust us, you still think you can protect this planet yourself," Anders said with every word he sounded angrier. "Well let me tell you something, you all aren't as great as you used to be."

"You stole, killed, and destroyed land before, what makes you better than use?" Garnet asked, she sounded angry and Anders reflection appeared on her visor.

"I'm not, but I don't deny that. I do whatever is needed to insure a job gets done, even though I do bad things I am not a bad guy," Anders tried to fake being calm, but failed. "But you all, you all are trying to make yourselves look perfect when you aren't. You all been deny any faults, you all deny that you all have been failing and slacking off, you all are living off of past glory to make it feel like you all are doing all right. How many corrupt gems or ancient artifacts have slipped through your fingers? How many times have failed and a corrupt gem did more damage than wanted, but you all just ignore?" Anders sounded like he was seething with anger. "You all pity each other so much it is making you unstable. You rather keep each other safe than the people safe. If you haven't realized it your next door neighbors are terrified by you, governments are annoyed by your failures. 1968 your fight with a corrupt gem destroyed a city, 1972 a forest was terraformed after Rose accidently buried a temple, 1975 Amethyst was arrest by the BCP after robbing a business, 1977 Garnet caused a country wide blackout after absorbing the electricity to fight a corrupt gem, 1981 corrupt gems rampaged through a town no one was able to help," The Crystal Gems looked down at the ground in shame. "Failures among failures and you all act like nothing ever goes wrong. Sometimes I respect you all and hell even like you all, but then the fact that you all don't care about humans, the fact that you all don't acknowledge your mistakes, and the fake that sometimes it's just an act is just gnawing me at the back of my head. I mean look at yourselves, Rose the protector of humans that never does her because she is too busy playing dress up with her new boy toy sure she may give you that winning speech but it's hallow, Amethyst the wild child that has a police record she is so loyal, funny, and nice it almost makes you forget how empty headed and how much she needs constant approval, then Pearl, I hate you the most your obsessiveness, your grudge against humans, your above it all attitude, it drives me up the wall," Anders sighed. "Look I like you all, but those simple things, those faults that you all never acknowledge or care about. You all keep everything so secretive and never try to make up for those mistakes or flaws. You never try to better yourselves. You all are stuck in a time warp, when you get out of it; you all would be lost and confused. You wouldn't be able to process these faults or know how to deal with them. You just lost touch with reality," A helicopter hovered behind Anders. "I'm sorry it just the job and Rose good luck with the kid."

The gems stared at Rose in surprise and confusion. "Rose what is he talking about?" Pearl said sounding scared and confused as Anders climbed into the helicopter.

The helicopter doors closed and it took off, Anders looked around the cabin and saw a frowning Marcus. "Mission accomplished sir," Anders said with a sigh


	11. Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meh almost done

Happy Birthday

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders watched the waves hit the beach. Seagulls squawked and pecked at the sand. In the distance a storm was forming over the ocean. Citizens of the city went inside their homes not want to get caught in the rain. The air was damp and cool; the leaves on the trees were turning brown. Flower petals died right next to Anders boots, one by one the flowers were dying across the small beachside town. Anders sighed and got off the rock he was sitting on, he dusted off his brown wool sweater and jeans. His bandanna fluttered in the strong wind. The smell of dew and spices hung in the air, Anders rubbed the stubble along his face and brown eyes, his long brown hair blew in the wind. A group of footsteps and the sound of weapons being summoned came from behind him.

"Anders what are you doing here?" Pearl asked her voice coated in venom.

Anders turned around and noticed the new stars on their outfits and smirked. "Nothing important just called in for another job," Anders said casually.

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked with a glare.

"Well once again I have to help you all," Anders said slowly walking over to them.

"By help do you mean spy on us, we found your bugs and camera Anders," Pearl said harshly pointing her spear at him.

"Be careful where you point that thing," Anders grabbed the spear body. "You might hurt someone."  
"And that being you," Pearl hissed back.

Everything went silent and the two glared at each, Amethyst looked at the two nervously, she slowly backed away and bumped into someone. "Amethyst!" The person said happily.

The person picked her up from behind and hugged her. "Ahh!" Amethyst screamed. "Help!" Amethyst looked behind her and saw Pepper. "Pepper why are you here?" Amethyst said confused.

Pepper smiled at her and put down Amethyst. "Well I heard Rose was having a baby and I came to help and support you all," Pepper said with a beaming smile. "I have been through it once before, so might as well help you all with it."

"Mrs. Sherman haven't you been listening to me for the past six years gem biology isn't the same as humans, if it was they could've just gone to a hospital," A voice said from behind the fence.

"Guess you're right doc," Pepper said rubbing the back of her head.

A loud creaking noise came from Marcus wheelchair as he went through the fence. "And I wouldn't be here to help," Marcus said proudly.

"And I'm your assistant," Pepper said happily.

"You two ruined my intimidating moment!" Anders yelled embarrassed.

"You intimidating what's next Twentieth wearing a dress?" Pepper asked playfully.

"Shut up," Anders sighed as Pepper walked over to him and rubbed the back of his next, he turned beat red.

"You're so stressed out," Pepper said as she continued to rub.

"Shu…shu…shut up," Anders said embarrassed.

"As soon as you do," Pepper hugged him.

Anders turned even redder and stared at her yellow sundress. "I have I ever told you two how dumb you are together," Marcus said with a smile.

"Yes," They said in unison.

"I am so happy I got you two together," Marcus said kindly.

Pearl cleared her throat getting their attention. "May I ask why are you all here!" Pearl yelled annoyed.

"Well I am the only one that help Rose with giving birth to her child and Anders is my escort and Pepper here is my lab assistant so she is guaranteed a free ride," Marcus explained. "So where is the expecting mother?"

"Rose is in the temple you already know how to get in," Pearl said with a slight glare.

"Oh Amethyst I have a gift for you," Pepper grabbed a box from under Marcus wheelchair.

"Ooo what is it?" Amethyst asked excitedly.

Pepper opened the box. "The complete full series of Lil' Butler including the holiday special and movie," Pepper said equally excited.

"Awesome!" Amethyst hugged the box. "You should watch this with me and Greg sometime soon."

"I'll try," Pepper smiled. "So did you see the episode when the Richmens moved in?"

The two continued to talk as Anders wheeled Marcus up the hill, the two stared at the house being constructed. "Never thought they would be taking this kid thing seriously," Anders said surprised.

"I know it is a big surprise, a naturally born gem being, and the cherry on top is that is happened with a human," Marcus said excited. "I never thought I would see the day."

"Same here," Anders almost sounded breathless.

"How are you feeling?" Marcus asked.

"Anxious and paranoid, I never thought I would be coming back here, let alone Rose coming directly to us for help. I don't like it," Anders said with a sigh.

"Don't worry soldier the due date is in a day we will be fine," Marcus said confidently.

"Yeah," Anders wheeled Marcus into the cave and stepped outside; he looked to his right and noticed Garnet suddenly appearing.

"Hello," She said casually.

Anders had a nervous look on his face for a brief second. "Hi," Anders replied trying to hide that he was nervous.

"How've you been holding up?" Garnet asked still sounding casual.

"Good just got down fighting a revolution in Congo, how are you doing?" Anders asked back.

"Not as good as I should," Garnet said much to Anders surprise. "I've been split up twice in the past nine month, one about your betrayal and one because of Rose."  
"Did you see this coming?" Anders asked feeling sad.

"I saw the possibility of your betrayal, but ignored it. And I haven't dared to look at what might happen to Rose," Garnet said stoically.

"I'm sorry," Anders said with a sigh.

"It's ok the path of faith is paved with many ups and downs," Garnet said as she stared in the distance.

"Aye," Anders joined her. "Boy or girl?"

"Boy," Garnet answered.

"Hope he likes my gift," Anders stared at a plastic bag tied to Marcus wheelchair.

"Did Pepper pick it out for you?" Garnet asked playfully.

"No I can be fatherly, I understand children I am raising one right now," Anders said proudly.

"Can human babies survive fire or extreme heat?" Garnet asked out of nowhere.

Anders sighed. "Pepper get up here we got to explain parenting to the gems!" Anders yelled.

A few hours pasted and the gems and Anders and Pepper sat on rocks outside of the cave. Anders hung a tarp over them blocking the rain. Pearl glared at Anders from across the clearing watching every move he made. Anders sighed as Pepper put her head on his shoulder and hugged his arm. Marcus's wheelchair creaked from inside the cave; he and Rose were talking in private. Pearl occasionally tried to sneak into the cave, but she was scared off by a bullet from Anders. The storm roared in the distance, lightning struck the ground. Waves roared and toiled against each other. Birds hid in their nests trying to escape the storm. Anders yawned pulled out a canteen and took a drink. The dead leaves floated into puddles and the last flowers were about to die. A loud scream cave from the cave, Pepper sprung to life and ran into the cave before the gems could even stand up.

"The baby is coming!" Pepper yelled from the cave.

Rose was hyperventilating as Greg held her, Pepper helped him carry Rose into the temple as Marcus wheeled behind them.

The gems ran to the temple door, but Anders blocked their way. "Let us through!" Pearl growled aggressively.

"So you can do what watch?" Anders asked while raising an eyebrow.

"No we want to help!" Pearl yelled angrily.

"Do you even know how human babies get born?" Anders asked with a glare.

"No, but…" Pearl went quiet.

"Then leave it to the professionals, Marcus is the only one that can even comprehend how a gem-human hybrid baby can be born, you can't help," Anders said with a sad sigh. "We just got to wait."

Anders and the gems sat on their rocks in silence. The air felt tenser, Pearl continued to glare at Anders. The silence felt awkward and heavy.

"You know we haven't forgiven you," Pearl said breaking the silence.

Anders raised an eyebrow confused. "You stole our files and important information, you hurt Rose and you ruined us on purpose. If it was up to me you wouldn't be here," Pearl said, every word was harsh and cold.

"Like you would be able to do anything to me, let's not forget who has the army here," Anders said with a glare.

"We have fusion," Pearl returned the glare.

"I would love to see how that would handle over a thousand bullets flying towards it. Let me tell you something Pearl, I am not like every other human that you come across. I don't fear or respect you. I just see a confused alien crying and singing," Anders said coldly.

"Anders," Garnet said almost sounding like a growl.

"What I don't like being treated like I'm the bad guy, if Rose ordered you to do something like what I did; you all would've done it without a single regret. I didn't do anything wrong," Anders said sharply his glare becoming more intense.

"Your stole our history," Pearl shot back.

"I protected Earth," Anders hissed and glared. "What do you two think?"

Amethyst and Garnet didn't say anything, they only looked away. Everything went silent once again; the only noise was the raging storm. Anders pulled out his device and played music. The beats and tempo of the music was in perfect sync with the storm. The waves rose and toiled, with every crash on the shore the ocean became wilder. The air was crispy and cold, the sky was gray and lifeless. A powerful wind blew against the tarp. The temperature dropped with every hour. The leaves on the trees turned brown and fell as the last flower died. The temple door opened and Greg stepped out holding a small crying baby. Pepper wheeled Marcus out of the temple, Pepper had a large smile on her face and Marcus was simply astonished.

"Anders meet our Godson Steven," Pepper said softly.

Anders grabbed the plastic bag off of Marcus wheelchair and pulled out a red blanket with a star on it. "Happy birthday Steven Universe," Anders gave the blanket to Greg.

"Wait where's Rose?" Pearl asked sounding scared, nervous, and breathless.  
*Eight years later*

A young child stood in the middle of a beachside house watching Pearl ran through the house anxiously.

"Steven are you sure you are going to be safe at the beach without me?" Pearl asked nervously.

"Pearl I am 'dis many years old now," Steven put up eight fingers. "I think I can go to the beach by myself now, don't you have to go on a mission or something?" Steven asked happily.

"Well yes Steven, but," Pearl was at a loss for words, she bit her finger. "Ok fine go have fun. Wear sunscreen!"

"Ok Pearl," Steven laughed and walked out of his house.

Steven was wearing a red tank top with a star on it, blue shorts, and sandals which were too big for him, his brown hair was curly. He smiled and piled up sand trying to make castles.

"I think it would be easier if you had a shovel or pail," A shadow formed over Steven.

"No I can make it work," Steven said as he made a sand hill.

"Use wetter sand it is much strong and compact," The man behind him said.

"Ok thanks mister," Steven turned around and saw a man in a soldier's uniform with a brown beard and bandanna. "Whoa are you a soldier?"  
"Kind of, but that's not important I'm Anders your godfather, I just wanted to check up on you," Anders said with a smile.

"You're my godfather cool why haven't we met before?" Steven asked confused.

"We have but you were really young, have the gems been taking good care of you?" Anders asked softly.

"Yeah of course I love the gems," Steven smiled brightly.

"Good I have to go soon, but if you ever need help or if something happens to the gems call me," Anders handed Steven a card with the T.O.U logo and gave Steven a quick hug. "Bye golden boy."

"Bye mister Anders!" Steven waved goodbye and smiled as Anders disappeared behind a rock.

"Steven I made you lunch!" Garnet yelled from the porch of the house.

"Yay!" Steven smiled and ran up to porch.

Garnet noticed a blinking red light on the back of Steven's shirt. "Anders," Garnet sighed and grabbed the red light.


	12. Ring a Ding Ding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was hinting at making another all new arc in here, but scrapped that, also scrapped the Pepper being pregnant thing for something better in later chapters

Ring a Ding Ding

Disclaimer: I own nothing. (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders sat in a medium sized office room. The sun was setting in the distance and the purple glow entered the room through the window. Ander poured a drink into a small shot glass on top of his desk and stared out the window. His mahogany desk was filled with piles of papers and files; his computer monitor was covered in sticky notes with random numbers jotted on them. The sound of helicopters taking off filled the complex. Anders walked over to the window and took a drink from the shot glass. The land line on his desk ringed, a confused look appeared on Anders face as he picked up the phone.

"Hello is this Anders?" A stoic voice asked from the other line. "Pearl are you sure this is the right number?"  
"I am sure this time," Pearl said in a whisper.

"Well, well, well I never expected to hear from you three again," Anders said with a small smirk. "You must be in big trouble, how badly did you all screw up this time?"

"It's not like that Anders," Garnet said sounding serious. "This is about Steven."

Anders eye squinted and a more serious look appeared on his face. "What happened?" Anders said sounding more serious.

"We…we lost him," Pearl said disheartened.

"How did you lose a magical human-hybrid child?" Anders asked annoyed.

"We were on a mission with him and he used the warp pad by himself, a corrupt gem scared him and he activated the warp, disappearing somewhere. We thought he would just warp home, but something went wrong when we got back to the temple he wasn't there, we looked for him for two days. We unfortunately need your help," Pearl struggled to say the last sentence.

"You're still angry about twelve years ago aren't you," Anders said with a sigh.

"Let's not speak about that spy and just worry about Steven," Pearl said, Anders could feel the hatred over the phone.

"Look I can't just scramble the military and drop everything to find him. If you haven't forgotten we aren't exactly allies anymore, the best I can offer is my support if we are lucky. Maybe if you hadn't cut ties with us the deal would have been better," Anders said with a slight glare.

"Some godfather you are," Pearl shot back with venom.

"The chain goes father and husband, soldier, commander, godfather, and your handler; unfortunately for you all your things take the bottom tier. Let's just move on ok," Anders said with a sigh.

"Yes, he was using the warp pad in the jungle where we met when we lose him can you somehow track him?" Pearl asked calming down.

"Possibility I will call you if I find him and secure him, it's a big if though, but," Anders sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I will try."

"Thanks and good luck," Pearl said with a sigh.

Anders hung up the phone and sighed. Ander finished his drink and closed the blinds of his window, and then he redialed and called someone else.

"Hello Anders what is it?" Marcus asked over the phone.

"The gems just called me," Anders said quietly.

"Why?" Marcus asked seriously.

"They lost Steven Universe on a warp pad, can we track him?" Anders asked with a hint of worry.

"Well," Marcus paused and went into deep thought; a minute went by before he said anything else. "Fine, but this isn't another team up, just extract Steven and we will be done with them. Send me the warp pad he got lost on over the Travelers Deck."

Ander pulled out his device and sent the coordinates. "So how is the schedule looking?" Anders asked casually.

"Pequod is leading a group of bombers in Pakistan tomorrow, Twentieth is talking to the Department of Defense for a payment raise soon, and three raids in Iraq on Friday," Marcus said in monotone.

"So just like last week," Anders said with a sigh.

"Yup, ok got where Steven was sent to," Marcus said with a yawn. "He was sent to an island south Madagascar, our scout reports say that it is a corrupt gem hotspot with a minimum of five corrupt gems and two possible mutants that escaped the slaughter Central Africa. The warp pad went black though two hours ago, which leads me to believe it is destroyed," Marcus said getting more worried. "Steven warped their two and half hours ago, we should get him now, I will call the gems."  
"No I got this," Anders said confidently.

"In all honesty Anders you aren't the spring chicken you used to be," Marcus quipped.

"Ironic hearing that from the sixty eight year old in a wheel chair, I'm only thirty six and still in the prime of my life," Anders chuckled.

"Don't you hear that in the distances Anders that the sound your hip breaking," Suddenly Marcus winced. "Oh there goes my back."  
"I will call you back sir thanks," Anders hung up the phone flustered.

Anders sighed and walked out of his office and locked the door. He stood in a corridor of offices and meeting rooms. The hallway was extremely bland with beige walls and gray tiles. The lights buzzed emphasizing how empty the hallway was. Anders happily walked to the roof of the control building and waited. He took off his trench coat and reviled a jungle camo uniform; he proudly dusted off the uniform while muttering still fits and stared out into the distance. The sound of helicopter can from behind him; he turned around saw a helicopter hovering next to the roof. The cabin doors opened and Anders leapt into the helicopter. He sat down and pulled out a box that was under his seat and opened it. Inside were a shotgun, handgun, and a taken apart sniper rifle. He pulled out his traveler's deck and played music as he put together the rifle. The suns purplish glow entered the cabin through the small windows. Anders hummed as he shone the rifle and checked the scope; he put the rifle alongside him and closed his eyes. The helicopter blades hummed softly as Anders drifted off to sleep. He awoke over the ocean as Small Island came into view. Anders rubbed his eyes and loaded the guns; he pulled out his bandanna and tied it around his head. The helicopter hovered above the white sand beaches and Anders leapt out of the helicopter. The pilot saluted him and flew off.

"Two objectives save Steven and kill as many corrupt gems as possible," Anders said as he stared at the tropical jungle.

The sun had set the pale moonlight glowed on the calm ocean. Anders put on night vision goggles and walked into the tropical jungle. It was hot and humid, owls hooted and snakes stalked their prey through the tall grass. The ground was wet and almost like mud. The air smelt like coconuts. The wind pushed around the jungle canopy. Ander slowly walked through the jungle with the sniper rifle at hand; he held it in a tight grip. His boots and the bottom of his pants were covered in mud, his steps were the only the noise in the quiet jungle. A loud crashing noise came from his left, startled Anders leapt into the mud and went silent. He slowly crawled the underbrush with his sniper rifle at the ready. A low growl came from up ahead, Anders crawled to the top of a ridge and saw a giant hyena like corrupt gem chewing on fallen tree. It gem was where its eyes should be, it was off guard and peacefully chewing on the tree. Anders placed the sniper rifle in front of him and aimed for the temple. He took a deep breath and went silent going completely stone faced. A spilt second the round was fired, before the beast could turn its head, the bullet drilled through the beast's temple. It collapsed on the ground whimpering pain before it poofed. Anders slide down the ridge and grabbed the light blue gem and placed it in a metal container. He sighed and slide over the fallen tree and reentered the jungle. He silently trudged through the jungle floor his uniform was stained with mud. Moonlight broke the jungles canopy breaking up the dark patch of land. Anders sat on a mossy rock and took off his night vision goggles. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. A loud scream came out of nowhere grabbing Anders attention. He bolted up and switched to his shotgun. Anders ran through the jungle and stood in a clearing. A small boy with curly black hair and a red t-shirt ran into the clearing screaming, a swarm of bats flew into the clearing and gathered together and formed a giant bat. The boy summoned a bubble as the bat unleashed a loud screech. The screech cracked the bubble a little bit and sent the boy rolling backwards. Anders glared at the bat and shot it in the wings. The bat fell to the ground unable to fly; it struggled and leapt into the, but to no avail. Anders shot a round with every step he took, the bat was pushed back. It cried in pain unable to escape the blasts. Anders smirked as he shot the final round into the bat's head. Anders reloaded his shotgun and hung it on his side. The boy groaned and rubbed his head, and then he suddenly noticed Anders.

"Huh who are you?" He asked surprised to see another person.

"Every time," Anders muttered to himself. "I am Anders Sherman your godfather Steven."

Upon closer inspection Steven was covered in mud, his hair was grease, and had a few bruises and scratches. His shirt was a bit torn up.

Steven suddenly remembered him. "Ah Anders go to see you," He then suddenly paused. "Wait why are you here?"  
"Doing my job, saving you, and wasting a Tuesday night all at the same time," Anders said casually.

"Are the gems here?" Steven asked hopefully.

"No only I came," Anders said nonchalantly.

"But there is corrupt gems everywhere here we don't stand a chance," Steven said nervously and dramatically.

"Did you not just see that?" Anders asked taken aback.

"See what?" Steven asked confused.

"I just wasted that corrupt gem," Anders pointed to the gem lying on the ground.

"Really how did you do it?" Steven asked interested.

"I shot it," Anders said with a yawn.

"I thought normal weapons can't hurt gems," Steven said surprised.

"Well I shot it with special bullets that can hurt gems," Anders said as pulled out a clip of ammo.

"How does that work?" Steven said interested.

"Well," He paused and thought for a second. "I wish Marcus was here," Anders said with a groan.

"It's ok you can explain it later," Steven said with a smile.

"Thanks are you hurt?" Anders said getting more focused.

"No I'm fine," Steven smiled warmly.

"For a kid being stuck on deserted island for the last four hours you're pretty chipper," Anders said chuckling a bit.

"Wait it's been four hours!" Steven yelled surprised. "The gems must be so worried we got to get home right now."  
"Yours worried about the gems right now?" Anders said raising an eyebrow.

"Well duh, Pearl gets worried about if I am gone for more than five minutes, she must be panicking right," Steven said concerned.

"I believe so much right," Anders said simplistically.

Suddenly Steven's stomach growled. "Umm do you have food?" Steven asked with a sheepish smile.

"I got a box of rations," Anders pulled out a small box of dried food.

"Can I have some?" Steven asked hopefully.

"Are you sure you want some?" Anders winced at the sight of the box.

"Sure I'm really hungry," Steven grabbed the box and took a bit of some food out of it, he groaned and his face turned green and spitted out the food. "That's so gross."

"Tell me about it, I had to eat this stuff for over three months during the Gulf War," Anders nodded.

"What's the Gulf War?" Steven asked honestly.

"Why does everyone forget the Gulf War," Anders said with sigh. "Let's get a move on, it takes five hours to reach the other side of the island."  
"Five hours, but can't we just go to the warp pad," Steven suggested.

"Wait isn't it destroyed?" Anders asked confused.

"Not that I know of I fell off the warp pad as soon as I got here," Steven said as he stared at his muddy clothes. "And fell into mud while I was at it."

"Come on let's go," Anders walked into the jungle.

"Hey wait up!" Steven yelled from behind.

Anders pulled out his traveler's deck and played some music as they walked through the jungle. Steven happily hummed along to the song as the two trudged up a hill. Their clothes were covered with sweat and mud. Steven started to lag behind after a while, Anders sighed and picked up Steven and let him climb on to his back. Anders held his sniper rifle at the ready and pulled down his night vision googles. The green glow from the goggles shone through the dark jungle. After a while Steven spoke up.

"Hey Anders why don't I see you a lot?" Steven asked tiredly.

Anders winced. "Well umm I'm busy with my own family my son just moved out last week by the way, my work constantly keeps me busy," Anders quickly said.

"I've been wondering what is your job exactly?" Steven asked interested.

"Well I'm a leader of group of highly trained professionals that do services in exchange for money," Anders struggled to say.

"Are you a police chief?" Steven asked excitedly.

"No more like a soldier, a mercenary of sorts," Anders said exhaling sharply.

"What's a mercenary?" Steven asked with a yawn.

"We are soldiers without borders, we fight pretty much anywhere for the highest bidder, and we aren't bound to a country so that means we can fight for anyone we please as long as they can pay for it," Anders explained.

"That's…cool," Steven said falling asleep.

"Nice kid, wonder if I will ever see him again?" Anders sighed.

Anders walked through the island jungle for another three hours. He was exhausted and had bags under his eyes, he pulled off the night vision goggles and radioed a helicopter on the traveler's deck. Anders laid Steven down on the soft sand of the beach they stood on. The ocean toiled in the distance, the moon hung in the calm night sky. It was full moon. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the stars shone brightly. Anders yawned and pulled out his canteen. He took a long drink as a loud roar came from the distance. Anders eyes squinted and he groaned, he hid Steven behind a rock and waited for the beast to arrive. A loud pounding noise came from the jungle, the ground rumbled, but Anders was unimpressed. A giant purple four armed humanoid mutant gem leapt out of the jungle. It had a savage look on its face as it looked down at Anders. He only glared and pointed the shotgun at it.

"Hu…hum…human!" The gem's disfigured mouth roared in anger.

Anders stared at the beast in surprise. The mutant reached for its gem, the gem glowed and disfigured sword shot out of the mutant's knee. The mutant reached for the sword, but its hand was shot back by Anders. It grabbed its hand in pain and glared at Anders, the mutant leapt towards him. As it flew through the air Anders rolled to the right narrowly dodging the mutant slamming into the ground. He quickly pulled out a sliver disk with a red light in the middle of it and started to fiddle with it. The mutant got on its feet and slammed its fists into the sand; the shock wave sent Anders flying back into the water. As he flew through the air he threw the device he had at the mutant. A burst of electricity came out of the device and hit the mutant paralyzing it. The mutant roared in pain as the electricity surged through its body. The red dot in the middle of the device blinked on and off, as it did that, lines started to form on the mutant's body. The dot turned a solid red and the mutant poofed. Anders lied back in the water floating staring at the starry night sky for a moment.

Steven yawned and sat up. "Hey Anders what are you doing?" Steven asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Taking a swim Steven want to come in?" Anders asked sarcastically.

"Sure!" Steven jumped into the ocean. "Oooh it's a bit cold."

Anders sighed and got out of the water and put the gem in a metal container just as the helicopter flew overhead, Steven swam out of the water and stood next to Anders. "This is going to my first time flying," Steven said nervously.

"Trust me Steven it is perfectly safe," Anders said as the helicopter hovered over the white sand beach.

"Ok here we go," Steven winced and crawled into the helicopter.

Anders chuckled and climbed into the helicopter, the doors closed and the helicopter took off. "Are we flying yet?" Steven asked, his eyes were closed.

"We've been flying," Anders said casually.

"We are!" Steven eyes opened and he looked out the window. "It looks beautiful."

"So this is your godson, he's cute," Pequod said from up front.

Steven blushed and chuckled. "Thanks," He rubbed the back of his head.

Anders took apart his rifle and placed the guns in the box from earlier. He sighed and plugged in his traveler's deck. Steven smiled as he stared out into the night's sky. He yawned and Anders placed a blanket on Steven's soldiers. After a few hours of flying Pequod landed the helicopter on the beach outside of the temple. Anders and Steven hopped out of the helicopter and the gems came rushing towards them. Pearl swept up Steven in a hug, Anders smirked a little bit.

"Oh Steven I was so worried about you," Pearl cried as she hugged him tighter. "Oh look at you we got to get you cleaned up right now."  
Steven returned the hug and smiled warmly. "I missed you too Pearl," Steven said happily.

"Hey little man how was your adventure?" Amethyst asked with a smile.

"Well at first it was scary then…" Steven voiced disappeared as the gems started to walk away.

"Wait Garnet I have something to talk about with you," Anders said casually.

She paused. "Hmm sure," Garnet walked over to him. "What is it?"  
Anders sighed. "I confronted a mutant gem today, but it was different, it regained some of its abilities," Anders said seriously.

A brief look of shock appeared on Garnet face. "What do you mean?" Garnet asked returning the serious tone.

"It could talk a little bit and even summon its weapon," Anders said in a quiet tone.

"This isn't the first one I've heard of, just last week when I was hunting down a gem relic I got into a fight with a similar mutant and I've seen other mutants like that in some of my vision," Garnet said stoically. "I fear we can't deal with all of them by ourselves."

"I will pull some strings and see if I can work you all again, I'm still in co-command of gem operations, but I can't make any promises. Ever since the Iraq war started we've been stretched thin my division had been doing raids every week," Anders sighed. "Look I feel like we need to clean up the bad blood, just in case another Black Opal show's up."

"I agree, working with you wasn't the worse thing in existence," Garnet said playfully.

Anders smiled. "Same here," Anders walked towards the helicopter. "I'll see what I can do."

Anders climbed into the helicopter and waved goodbye.


	13. Boy is Back In Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok

Boys are Back in Town

Disclaimer: I DON"T OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders motorcycle's engine roared as he drove the Harley down the road past the welcome to "Beach City" sign. The music on the radio could barely be heard of the engine, Anders camo jacket blew due to the strong wind. The sun reflected off the wind shield on to his sunglasses. Birds flew through the mid-day sky; cloud's large shadows covered the city. People stared at Anders as he drove into town. An old bartender smiled and waved at him, a group of teenagers stared at him with looks ranging for jealousy and admiration for the motorcycle. People casually walked down the boardwalk as Anders pulled up to a store with a giant doughnut on top of it. Anders stared at the Big Doughnut and chuckled to himself as he remembered the old commercial. He took off his sunglasses and hung them on his jacket as he walked into the store. He stared at the bored lanky teenage boy sleeping behind counter. Annoyed by this Anders walked over to the counter and rapidly rang the bell.

"Erg what is it!" The teen yelled annoyed, his look of annoyance turned into fear as he saw Anders towering over him. "Sorry about sir what can I get you?"

"A strawberry doughnut with rainbow sprinkles," Anders said as he pulled out a leather wallet with a skull on it.

The teen went silent for a moment. "Oh um sure, one sec," He said surprised.

Anders rolled his eyes. "Dumb ass lazy teen," Anders muttered to himself. "Ain't good for nothing."

A short, stocky (?), teenage girl walked out of the backroom. "Huh Lars are you doing work?" The girl asked surprised.

"Yeah, I totally handled this costumer when you were doing stock," Lars said lying through his teeth.

"He was sleeping when I got here, when I woke him he tried to snap at me, but he was scared off once he saw me," Anders explained bored.

"That sounds more like him," The girl said as she went behind the counter. "Name's Sadie, what's yours?"  
"Anders, you wouldn't happen to be Barbara's kid?" Anders asked as he checked the time on his watch.

"You know my mom?" Sadie asked taken off guard.

"I met her a few times when I lived in town for a year, the meetings," Anders inhaled sharply. "Interesting."

"Don't worry I catch your drift," Sadie said chuckling a bit.

"Ugh!" Lars groaned from under the counter. "Sadie could you help me find the strawberry doughnuts?"  
"Sure Lars," Sadie found the doughnut with easy.

"Maybe if you spent more time doing your job instead of sleeping you would have found it sooner," Anders said sharply.

Lars glared at him, Anders glared back which made Lars flinch. "That will be three fifty," Sadie held out the doughnut bag and smiled.

"Thank you for the excellent service," Anders purposely gave Sadie a ten and then whispered. "I would fire that Lars kid, though."

Anders walked out of the Big Doughnut and walked towards the temple. He noticed that the fence was gone; he shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk. The ocean was calm and still, the air smelt like flowers and salt. Anders ate his doughnut as he walked in front the beach house that was built into the temple. Anders took a deep breath and walked up the stairs to the front door. He finished the doughnut and knocked on the door. The sounds of people tripping and someone running towards the door, Anders rolled his eyes and leaned back on the porch railing. The screen door flew open and in the door frame stood Steven.

"Anders!" Steven expressed happily. "It's great to see you."

"Hey Steven," Anders said casually.

"So-" Steven was interrupted by the screen door falling back on him, Steven groaned and pushed the door. "What brings you here?" Steven asked smoothly.

"I'm going to be living here for a while," Anders said with a yawn.

"That's awesome, we could hang out, tell each other secrets, watch t.v together you're going to love crying breakfast friends, and maybe even going fishing," Steven listed off excitedly.

"Sure, sure," Anders said with an eye roll. "May I come in?"

"Of course make yourself comfy," Steven said with a warm smile.

Anders walked inside of the house and stared at the décor. "Pearl," Anders muttered to himself.

He walked out over to the warp pad and opened the panel to the wires. "Whoa I didn't know the warp pad opened," Steven said surprised.

"There is a lot you don't know, but while I'm here I can teach you a few things, it's the least I can do for you letting me stay here," Anders said as he plugged his Traveler's Deck in.

"No it's my pleasure, so what are you doing?" Steven asked interested.

"Just watch," Anders said as he pushed a button on the holographic screen.

The warp pad activated and a multiply boxes appeared on the pad. "I thought the warp pad could only teleport people," Steven said surprised.

"Normally, but we figured out how to turn the warp pads into a giant transport system, I could even make a jeep come out of the warp pad," Anders chuckled.

"That's awesome, could you really warp anything?" Steven asked starry eyed.

"Almost anything, we tried warping a tank once, but it didn't go so well why do you ask?" Anders asked casually.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. "So where are the gems?" Anders asked as he finished moving the boxes.

"They're out on a mission and said that I couldn't come, they said it was too dangerous," Steven pouted.

"You survived a night on an island full of corrupt gems; there are only a few things more dangerous," Anders said.

"I know right, I bet it's because I can't control my powers yet," Steven was still pouting.

"I could help you with that," Anders said nonchalantly.

"Really?" Steven asked excitedly.

"Yeah, powers aren't really that important Steven, all you need is a bit of training and boom you could be able to handle any mission the gems could throw at you," Anders said confidently, he paused for a moment. "Well most missions."

"Are you sure Anders, some of those gems pretty dangerous," Steven said a bit worried.

"Steven I defeated over hundred corrupt gems in the last ten years with only a shotgun and ingenuity, you don't need your powers to fight gems," Anders said with a smile.

Steven returned the smile and his stomach growled. "Haha guess I'm a bit hungry," Steven chuckled.

"I could make macaroni for you," Anders shrugged his shoulders.

"That sounds good," Steven smiled.

"Hopefully I won't burn it this time," Anders muttered to himself as he walked into the kitchen.

Anders grabbed out a box of macaroni and a pot. He filled up the pot with water and dumped the macaroni into it. He sat on the couch as the macaroni cooked. He pulled out his Traveler's Deck and messed with it while he waited. Steven above him watching T.V. Anders sighed and walked up to Steven's room and watched what was on T.V.

"So what are you watching?" Anders asked confused.

"Crying Breakfast friends it's my favorite show," Steven said happily.

Anders watched a moldy orange roll on the ground in a puddle of its own tears. "It's…it's…its show," Anders struggled to say.

The warp pad activated and on it stood the gems; Steven smiled and ran down the stairs. Anders rolled his eyes and polished his handgun. The gems and Steven talked happily until Pearl walked into the living and noticed Ander sitting on Steven's bed.

"What is he doing here?" Pearl yelled sounding both angry and surprised.

"You didn't brief them," Anders looked at Garnet who just stood there stoically, Anders sighed and walked down the stairs. "Yo Steven mind buying some milk for the Big Doughnut, I noticed we were out and we need some," Anders held out his wallet for Steven.

Steven looked at the gems and Anders a bit worried. "Go on Steven," Garnet said with a smile.

"Treat yourself, buy a doughnut too," Anders said with a smile.

"Oh ok," Steven grabbed the wallet and ran outside.

As Steven ran off Pearl turned to Anders. "You still haven't answered my question," Pearl said with a glare.

"Well you see due to circumstance we are forced to work together again," Anders said calmly. "Mutant gems that escaped the massacre in central Africa are "evolving" they are regaining their powers and since they are more animalistic they will kill unpredictable. Since they are more scattered our leaders thought the best way to deal with these stage two mutants was for us to work together again."

"Or is this another trick so you could steal from us again?" Pearl asked rhetorically still maintaining a glare.

"The last time I checked you didn't have anything for me to steal left," Anders quipped.

Pearl glared at him. "Sorry to soon," Anders put his hands up.

"We can deal with these mutants ourselves," Pearl said dismissingly.

"You could barely handle strong stage one mutants what makes you think this would be easier than those ones," Anders said starting to get annoyed. "You all are more disorganized; you need a handler to effectively deal with these with gems and that is unfortunately me. Look we may not like each other, but sometimes we got to work together with people we don't like for the betterment of Earth. So let's let the past rest."

"That's easy for you to say, you didn't have to start all over, lose your…leader, we had to start from square one, now your just taking advantage of us," Pearl said angrily.

Everything went silent. "Mom, Dad please stop fighting," Amethyst quipped breaking the silence.

Everyone stared at her disgruntled, when the suddenly the fire alarm went off. "Dammit my macaroni!" Anders yelled running to the kitchen.

"You couldn't even cook macaroni," Amethyst said surprised.

"Well sorry miss if I can't cook, I'm a soldier not Rachael Ray," Anders said as he turned off the stove and stared at the burnt macaroni. "Want it?"

"Yes," Amethyst said as she grabbed the pot.

"You weren't seriously just going to give Steven macaroni were you?" Pearl said sounding almost disgusted.

"Well it was either that or rations like I said I can't cook," Anders groaned.

"Well seeing how you can't even boil noodles I guess I'll have to take over," Pearl said happily.

"It's not too bad its needs something though," Amethyst said as she shoved a hand full of burnt noodles into her mouth.

"Cheese," Anders suggested shrugging his shoulders.

"No not that, maybe mayo," Amethyst said still trying to figure it out.

"That went better than I thought it would," Garnet said as she walked up to Anders.

"She didn't summon her spear, so that's something," Anders said shrugging his shoulders.

Steven walked into the room holding a doughnut bag and a jug of milk. "What did I miss?" Steven asked happily.

"I burnt macaroni, Amethyst is eating it, and Pearl took over dinner, where's my wallet," Anders listed off calmly.

Steven smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head. "I dropped it in the sand and lost it," Steven said with a Shepard's chuckled.

Anders sighed and walked out the door and started to dig through the sand.


	14. Monster Buddies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I still needed to work on Anders as a whole at this point

Monster Buddies

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Ander looked down at the array of guns he laid out on the coffee table. He grabbed his shotgun and started to take it apart and do maintenance. Pearl stood in the kitchen doing the dishes, while Steven sat upstairs in his room playing a videogame. The music and sound effects from the game filled the quiet house. Dust danced in the sunlight much to Pearl's displeasure. It was a warm summer day, the late afternoon sun stood in sky bring its rays of light across town. The ocean slowly crept up the beach, each wave going farther up the sand. The outdoor washing machine was on. Anders started to put his shotgun back together.

"Hey Anders," Steven said appearing out of nowhere.

Anders flinched and almost fell off the couch. "Oh hey Steven," Anders said clearing his throat embarrassed.

"What cha' ya doin," Steven asked as he stared at all the guns.

"Maintenance, my grandpa nearly died in World War two because he didn't take proper care of his gun, there's no way I am taking that risk," Anders said with a shudder.

"World War Two?" Steven repeated confused.

Anders stared at Steven with a look that mixed surprise and disappointment. "You never taught him about WWII Pearl, I would understand the Gulf War, but still," Anders said stared at the gem with the same look.

"I thought he was too young," Pearl said concerned.

"He is twelve Pearl I think he is old enough to know about the greatest war of the last century," Anders said skeptically.

"Anders couldn't you just tell me about it?" Steven asked interested.

"Gladly," Anders said with a smile. "Well you see World War Two started when…" Steven stared at Anders with starry eyes. "When…when," Anders struggled to talk, he sighed. "I will tell you when you're fourteen."

"Oh ok," Steven said a little bit disappointed.

Garnet and Amethyst walked out the temple; Amethyst ran over towards the table and stared at the guns. She tried to reach for one by her hand was smacked away by Anders. He glared at her making her back off with a sheepish smile. Anders Traveler's Deck buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket.

"New mission in the Himalayas, there is this gem artifact called the Shooting Star," Anders read bored.

"What's the Shooting Star?" Steven asked interested, Steven suddenly gasped. "Does it grant wishes?"

"No it is similar to a laser," Pearl said making a holographic image of the star.

"A laser that's awesome!" Steven said brightening up.

"And highly destructive, the Shooting Star could destroy at least half a city," Pearl added on.

"More of a reason for us to get it right now," Garnet said as she stepped on the warp pad.

"Should be simple enough the scout reports only stated one monster," Anders said getting up with a yawn.

"Cool let's get going," Steven said joining Garnet on the pad.

"Steven wait!" Pearl and Anders yelled concerned.

Steven looked at the two confused. "You forgot your jacket," Pearl said pulling out Steven's jacket.

"We are going to one of the coldest places on Earth you need a jacket," Anders informed as he put on a winter camo jacket.

Steven put on his jacket. "So Anders have you been here before?" Steven asked trying to start a conversation.

They started to travel through the warp stream. "I climbed MT Everest with my wife and kid before," Anders said nonchalantly.

"Really!" Steven said surprised. "What was it like?"

"Cold and high," Anders said shrugging his shoulders.

"Is that it?" Steven said a bit disappointed.

"It was exciting though, but when you get down to it you realized you wasted a week climbed a giant rock. It's kind of like your first roller coaster, it may be a rush, but it's not the greatest thing you'll ever do," Anders explained as the warp stopped.

"I've never been a on a roller coaster," Steven pointed out,

"We will have to fix that," Anders said as they walked towards a frozen cave.

Their breath hung in the air as they walked through the cave. Anders pulled out his assault rifle and turned on the flashlight attachment. He walked ahead of the group and looked at the empty chamber containing the shooting star. Steven rolled into the chamber trying to be spy like. The gems snickered at the sight while Anders merely rolled his eyes. He pulled out his Traveler's Deck and scanned the area, he stared at a large amount energy gathering in the chamber on the screen. Steven stood next to the pool containing when the air behind him started to freeze. Anders looked away from his screen and noticed the ice monster behind Steven. Anders threw the Traveler's Deck on the ground and clutched his assault rifle and shot a barrage of rounds into the monster head. Steven ducked and the monster tripped backwards in pain (?). The monster's head started to crack and split apart when Garnet leapt into action. She ran right next to the monster and summoned her gauntlets and punched the monster sending it crashing into a nearby wall. It groaned disorientated and in pain(?), Anders quickly reloaded and Garnet leapt back.

"Alright everyone," Garnet said making the other two gem's summoned their weapons.

"One more hit should do it," Pearl charged towards the monster and cut off its arm.

"Yikes your arm," Steven said concerned, he grabbed his own arm.

Garnet punched the monster causing it to collapse and poof, as the gem fell Pearl ran and caught it quickly bubbling it. "Now there is nothing standing between us and the Shooting Star," Pearl said happily as she sent the bubble away.

Anders grabbed his Deck out of the snow and dried it using his jacket. "Other than that," Anders pointed to wall slowly starting to split apart.

"This job is really dangerous," Amethyst said as a small avalanche started. "Whu-whoa, mama!" Amethyst yelled as she crushed by ice boulders and snow.

"Amethyst I'll dig you out!" Steven said rushing to the boulders, Amethyst groaned and mumbled something.

"We've got to get Steven out of here!" Pearl yelled concerned as more of the ceiling started to fall apart.

Garnet grabbed Steven and looked at him. "I'm going to send you back to the temple," Garnet said still managing to be stoic.

"But Garnet how will you," He was interrupted by Garnet bubbling him, Steven looked at her impressed. "Wow you can bubble me!"

"Garnet no!" Pearl yelled overly concerned.

"Watch your head," Garnet said as she sent him off.

"Cool now what about me?" Anders asked as another small avalanche accrued.

"What about you?" Pearl asked with a glare sounding sick of him.

"How will I get out of this?" Anders yelled annoyed.

Garnet merely shrugged. "I'm going to die in an avalanche," Anders groaned disappointed.

Amethyst popped out of her icy encasement as a rabbit. "Eh what's about doc?" Amethyst asked chuckling.

"Oh you know impending doom what we deal with every Tuesday," Anders said rubbing his temples.

Garnet picked Anders up by his coat. "Oh you figured out a plan," Anders said happily surprised.

"Nope we're just going to run for it," Garnet said casually.

"If I die I will come back and haunt you all," Anders threatened half-heartedly.

Garnet rolled her eyes and the gems started running down the cave. The avalanche crushed the cave behind them, the gems leapt forward out of the cave just as it was crushed and closed by ice and snow. Anders spit the snow in mouth and sighed.

"So what's plan B?" Anders asked breaking cold silence.

The wind howled across the empty mountain.

"Exactly," Anders said with an annoyed sigh.

The gems and Anders warped back to the temple. Anders took off his wet jacket and followed the gems into the temple to find Steven. Anders felt a twinge guilt run through his body as he walked through the familiar temple. Anders swallowed the feeling and walk into the burning room, he saw the corrupt gem standing near Steven acid dripping out of its mouth. On instinct he pulled out his hand gun and shot a round next the beast making it run back.

"Steven!" Pearl yelled leapt into action.

"Whoa dude," Amethyst said surprised as Garnet summoned her gauntlets trapping the Centipeetle in a corner.

"Wait!" Steven shouted worried.

"This was a terrible idea!" Pearl said angrily. "And he even managed to pop and a bubble and let loose…that…that…that thing!" Pearl said almost at a loss of words. "I swear if that thing hurt you I'll-"

She was interrupted by Steven sudden outburst. "It didn't even do anything!" Steven jumped in front of the Centipeetle. "Garnet don't hurt it! I accidentally let it out of its bubble, but it didn't even try to hurt me. It's not like the other monsters, it's just scared and confused."

Anders chuckled almost sounding menacing and stepped forward. "Steven it's a monster, it doesn't think like you and me it's completely territorial if we over step are bounds just a little bit it pounces noticing our weakness," Anders stepped closer a dark shadow covered his face. "Those are crocodile tears Steven, just back away and let me deal with this… beast."

Steven made an adorable face. "I can't say no to that face," Garnet said surprising Anders and Pearl. "I think you should try to tame it."

Anders jaw dropped to the floor in surprise as did Pearl's. "Thanks Garnet," Steven said happily hugging her.

"Ha shut down by the G-squad," Amethyst laughed at the surprised two.

Anders glared at the Centipeetle as they walked off. "You don't trust it either don't you?" Anders asked breaking the silence.

Pearl didn't say anything, she just walked off. After a few minutes Anders and the gems stood outside of the Beach House. The Centipeetle was chained to a rock freaking out. The gems and Anders had their weapons out and pointed at the creatures.

"Alright Steven let's see what you can do," Garnet said.

"It seems a bit scared," Steven said sounding a bit nervous.

"Good," Anders muttered under his breath.

The monster broke out of one of its chains and the gems and Anders got into fighting pose. "Hyoo," Amethyst said as she stood in a mock Kung-Fu pose.

"Maybe you guys could put your weapons away and watch from the house?" Steven suggested filling the tension.

"Absolutely not," Anders and Pearl said in unison, they looked at each other surprised.

"Steven can handle it," Garnet said as she deactivated he gauntlets.

Anders opened his mouth for a comeback but nothing came out. "You just got Garneted!" Amethyst quipped running ahead.

Anders walked alongside Garnet. "Garnet I respect your decision as a leader, but I think it's a stupid ass decision," Anders growled. "You're leaving a twelve year old alone with a monster, that may add on can spit acid! These creatures are savage deep down," He sighed. "That can't handle humane thoughts anymore."

"What makes you so sure?" Garnet asked raising an eyebrow behind her visor.

"Corruption happens when a gem's mind shatters. They lose the ability to maintain reactional thought and reasoning, they go to their most primal state," Anders explained. "That's why they turn into animals that are what they are most similar to. And like animals they can be savage."

"And can't animals be tamed?" Garnet asked back.

Anders went silent as they went back inside of the Beach house; he opened a window facing the beach and pulled out a sniper rifle. He placed the rifle next to him as he sat in a chair by the window; he looked down at Steven and the beast through binoculars. The gem's talked about the shooting star behind him, but he tuned it out and slowly closed his eyes.

"Anders imagines the possibilities," An old voice echoed through the lab.

Anders stared at his boss confused. "What do you mean sir?" Anders said nervously, he tugged on the collar of his uniform.

"Come closer look at this," His boss held a bright red square gem in the palm of his hand. "What if I told that this gem is an alien being?"

"Aliens," Anders repeated confused.

"Yes an advance society that ruled the Earth over five thousand years ago," His boss informed him.

"Why doesn't it have a body?" Anders asked confused.

"It can, but if it forms it will come as a monster, I plan to fix this problem," His boss said warmly.

The scene faded away.

"Go, go I want everyone on this fuck quickly it's going to armory!" Anders yelled at a group of soldiers.

The old man at his side sobbed. "How…how…how did this happen?" Marcus asked himself as he sobbed.

A squad leader glared the poor Oldman. "It's because you let it out, that's how it happened!" The squad leader shouted in anger as he held the Oldman up by his throat.

"I was trying to help it," Marcus sobbed coughing.

"Help it, there-!" The squad leader was shot through the head, his blood splattered on Anders and Marcus's faces.

Twentieth wiped the blood off of his revolver and kicked the corpse. "Scum," Twentieth hissed.

"He was right," Marcus sobbed.

Anders eyes darted open and he saw the gems and Steven about to leave. "Oh wait what's going on?" Anders asked groggily.

"Oh we figured out a way to get the shooting star," Steven said happily. "Using this girl!" Steven held up the Centipeetle.

"Are you sure this would work?" Anders asked nervously.

Garnet nodded. "Fine let me grab my shotgun," Anders said with a sigh.

Anders grabbed another jacket and grabbed his shotgun and joined the gems on the warp pad. The warped to the ice cave and stared at the collapsed cave.

"So what's the plan?" Anders asked with a yawn.

The Centipeetle walked up to the wall of ice and snow. "I don't know if this will work," Pearl said a bit nervous.

The Centipeetle squawked and spit acid on the wall melting through it. They continued the method until they entered the Shooting Star chamber and stood by the pool containing said star.

"There it is the Shooting Star an element so hot and so volatile it can only be contained in ice. It can't be touched by bare skin," Pearl explained mystified. "Garnet, you'll have to use your gauntlets as not to hurt your hands."

Garnet summoned her gauntlets and the Centipeetle freaked out. "No, no! Not now!" Steven said scared and worried.

"Dammit," Anders growled and pointed the shotgun at the Centipeetle.

"Something not right," Garnet said just as the Centipeetle started to spit acid on the ceiling making the stalagmites fall.

Anders pulled Steven away from the falling stalagmites. "Woah!" Steven yelled.

"I knew it!" Pearl summoned her spear. "I knew this would happen!"

"Pearl no stop it was an accident!" Steven accidently pulled the Centipeetle hair making it freaking out. "Sorry for pulling."

"Steven!" Garnet yelled as she kicked away the Centipeetle.

"Noooo!" Steven began to tear up.

The Centipeetle runs toward Steven but then is blocked by Amethyst and Pearl. Amethyst tries to whips it, but accidentally sends the Gems and Anders flying into the wall. The Centipeetle then almost attacks them.

"Stop! You don't need to fight! This isn't you! You're not a monster anymore! You're more than that. We have so many memories now! Remember the chip times?" Steven walked towards the Centipeetle. "And how you saved me from that vicious seagull? And how we became best friends?" He pulled it in for a hug. "You have to remember! This all happened today!" Steven cried, acid falls onto Steven's jacket and the Centipeetle calms down.

Anders watched the scene surprised, when suddenly a giant stalagmite falls towards him; the Centipeetle pushed him out of the way and got crushed. Anders stared at beast's gem mouth agape.

Steven looked down at the gem. "She saved me," Steven said tearing up.

"You did a good job taming it Steven…" Anders tuned out Garnet as he leaned down to the gem.

"Maybe there is a chance to save them after all Marcus," Anders said in shaky whisper. "Maybe there's a chance."


	15. Mirror Gem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barely important

Mirror Gem

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

"So what's with all the junk?" Anders asked staring at the pile of school supplies amassed in the living room.

"Yep it's all coming together," Steven said proudly staring at the pile.

"What's coming together you just started to pile things up in the living room," Anders said still confused.

"So how do we begin this "school"," Pearl said school as if it was a foreign concept.

Steven held the locker beside him. "Ugh…I…I don't know!" Steven cried out. "This is everything Connie told me. Why do I never ask follow-up questions? Who will teach little Stevie now!"

"Who's Connie?" Anders asked still out of the loop.

"Teach you! Oh, Steven if only I had known that's what you really wanted," Pearl said happily, she did a ritual dance and summoned a mirror out of her gem.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Anders yelled annoyed.

"We found this Gem-powered mirror at the Galaxy Warp, it can capture and display any event it's witnessed in all of Gem history," Pearl explained.

"How long have we had this thing?" Anders yelled angered by being ignored.

Steven gasped and Pearl went behind him and put her arms around him. "It'll offer you everything you've ever wanted to know about your fellow Gems and our culture," Pearl continued to explain.

"Are you sure this is the wisest idea," Anders said a bit worried.

"I must be incredibly important to Gem culture," Steven said staring at his reflection in the mirror.

Pearl scoffed. "It's just you in there. It hasn't even been activated," Pearl cleared her throat. "Show us the Galaxy Warp," The mirror did nothing.

"I like the mirrors attitude," Anders said with a smirk.

"Oh come on," Pearl said frustrated. "I know you've seen it, it's in a pretty rough state, it must of broke," Pearl said with a sigh. "What a shame."

Steven looked at his reflection. "Doesn't seem broken to me," Steven said chuckling.

Pearl sighed. "Oh well, I guess that's the end of our school," Pearl said disappointed.

"So you would say school's out for summer break?" Steven asked hopefully.

"Yes good Steven there is many ways to say the same thing," Pearl said happily.

Steven gasped. "School's out!" Steven running out the door.

"Why am I here?" Anders asked with a sigh.

"Oh did you say something Anders, I must have not heard you," Pearl said passive aggressively.

Anders glared at her for a second. He then moved to a desk he had moved from base to the house and stared at what best could be described as organized chaos. The desk had random stacks of paper spread across it; pens were put in old dirty coffee mugs, three bowls of cereal laid stacked on the edge of the desk, the state of the desk drove Pearl to insanity whenever she looked at it. He chuckled to himself remember those happy moments. He pulled out his Traveler's Deck from drawer holding far loaded handguns and played solitaire for the next few hours to come. Gathering his focus he ignored the Gem's until Steven burst through the screen door. Anders looked away from his game (his record is twenty-three seconds) and stared at the small pre-teen.

"Guy! Wait 'till you see…" Steven was interrupted by a chain of greetings.

"Yo Ste-man!" Amethyst said excited, Anders wondered where she got her boundless energy from.

"Hello Steven," Pearl said absorbed in her stacking of objects.

"Good evening?" Anders questioned the time with a yawn.

"Howdy, bang," Garnet made a finger pistol and pretended to shoot him.

"Want to see something hilarious?" Amethyst asked chuckling, she moved M.C Bear-Bear towards Pearl's pile, Pearl then stabbed the toy with her spear.

Amethyst laughed loudly. "You don't understand. Symmetrical means both sides have to be the same," Pearl grunted angrily and threw M.C Bear-Bear on a pile of other stabbed objects.

"M.C Bear-Bear!" Steven said concerned then sighed then brightened up. "Okay, that's great. Anyway I fixed the mirror."

"Oh excellent Steven," Pearl said happily.

"But why didn't you tell me it's like a person?" Steven asked.

Anders dropped his Traveler's Deck and the Gem's looked at him shocked.

"Steven what do you mean?" Anders asked sounding a bit nervous.

"Hey say hey…Lil' buddy…uh excuse us," Steven turned around and started to speak to the mirror, it actually started to make noises back.

Anders reached for one of the coffee mugs still a bit nervous, he took a drink forgetting about the pens. "Oh dear god!" Anders coughed out a blue pen.

"Is it talking to him?" Pearl said confused almost sounding scared and mystified. "It…it shouldn't be able to that it should just take orders."

"Garnet do something," Amethyst said softly sounding scared.

"Steven," Garnet said sounding serious as she walked over to him.

"Nooo!" The mirror cried out in Stevens' voice.

Anders grabbed one of his handguns and put it in the shoulder hostler he had under his camo jacket. "You should give us back the mirror. It will be safer where we can watch it," Garnet said maintaining her calm tone.

"Yeah let's bubble it!" Amethyst added.

"Noooo!" The mirror yelled repeatedly.

"Steven. Don't make me take it from you," Garnet said more assertive.

Steven gasped. "It doesn't want to go with you. Don't you hear it screaming?" Steven asked sounding worried and sad.

"Steven, it's just a mirror, a tool. It can't want anything," Garnet explained as she reached towards the mirror.

"Nooo!" The mirror yelled louder.

Steven growled. "It wants to be with me!" Steven slapped Garnet's hand away which hits her in the face and knocks her glasses off.

Anders eyebrow raised up interested and slightly surprised, Amethyst gasped extremely surprised, and Garnet stared at him seething with anger. "Aah-aah! I'm sorry!" Steven yelled nervously as he ran out of the house.

Garnet put her glasses back on and clenched her fists. "That little boy is in big trouble," Garnet growled.

"I'm more worried about the mirror, somethings wrong," Anders added feeling his skin crawling on his back.

"Garnet wait! I'm sure he didn't understand what he was doing!" Pearl yelled concerned.

The group ran outside the gems leapt on to the beach and Anders ran behind them. "Fan out," Garnet ordered.

Anders ran along the beach searching for the child we he suddenly heard glass breaking, he ran towards the beach and saw a gem forming. "Knew it," Anders whispered to himself almost breathlessly, Anders hanged back while the gems rushed forward.

"Steven!" Garnet yelled.

Anders pulled out his handgun and aimed it at the new Gem waiting. "You…" The gem growled and raises a huge water-arm out of the ocean. "You three knew I was in there and you didn't do anything! Did you even wonder who I used to be!?"

The gem slammed the water arm onto the Crystal Gems, trapping Garnet under it, while Pearl and Amethyst went sent flying back, the Gems grunted in pain. Anders eyes widened and the world slowed down. Before Steven could open his mouth to speak Anders shot a bullet. The bullet traveled across the night sky and hit the gem in the shoulder. The gem cried out in pain and her head jerked towards Anders she glared at him seething in anger. The gem and Anders stared each other down, Anders bandanna flutter in the air as she grabbed her wound.

"Put your hands up now or else," Anders growled in anger.

"I'm Lapis Lazuli," She growled out trying to hide the fact she was in pain. "And you can't keep me trapped her anymore!"

A giant water-arm arose from the ocean and smacked Anders into the sand, he groaned in pain and his handgun slid forward in the sand. "Not again not ever again," Anders coughed out; he started to crawl forward in the sand.

Lapis parted the ocean in half. "Steven they won't let us leave, quickly come with me," Lapis said mystically.

"Where?" Steven asked worried.

"Home," Lapis answered.

"but I…uh…but," Steven stuttered out nervously he shook his head.

"Fine," Lapis said turning away.

Anders reached his handgun and got on his knees. "Here take a parting gift!" Anders yelled and fired.

The bullet went through Lapis ribs and made her fall over in pain the ocean collapsed over here and the water arms disappeared, Anders ran towards where she stood and shot the water at random. "Darn it where did she go?" Anders gasped out, a giant shadow covered the beach Anders looked up a saw a giant wave above him. "Aww shi-"

The wave hit the beach and sent Anders and Steven crashing backwards, Anders coughed and gagged out water. "Steven!" Pearl yelled concerned. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, so was that another gem?" Steven asked.

"That's the common gem," Anders spitted out furiously.

"Steven you're grounded," Garnet said.


	16. Ocean Gem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry forgot to post

Ocean Gem

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs.)

Anders opened a box of weapons and laid them out on his desk. He was sitting at his desk while the Gems scolded Steven. Anders opened to bottom drawer and stared at his uniform.

"I'm…grounded?" Steven asked confused.

Pearl folded her arms. "Yes you are ground," Pearl reasserted strongly.

"You disobeyed an order," Garnet added.

"And now we're gonna bury you till you learned you lesson!" Amethyst said holding up a shovel.

Anders chuckled from his make-shift office. "Ah! That's not how grounding works!" Steven said surprised slightly sweating.

The door slammed open and Greg ran into the living room patting. "Dad?" Steven said confused.

"Uh you guys better come check this out," Greg said breathing heavily.

The Gems walked outside while Anders Deck rang, he pulled it out and answered a video call, Marcus appeared on the screen. "Anders we got a case one emergency," Marcus said in his most serious tone.

"What did that Gem do?" Anders asked with a sigh.

"Took all of the water in worlds' ocean and is making a giant pillar of water into space," Marcus said still maintaining a serious tone.

"Wait no world domination, terrorist attacks, nothing along those lines?" Anders asked surprised.

"Though it may not be as direct as the Black Opal attacks from twelve years ago it is just as catastrophic proxy wars over remaining water have already begun splitting up our forces," Marcus informed him.

"So what is the plan to deal with this freak?" Anders asked as he put together his sniper rifle.

"Well it will have to be a solo mission with you in the lead, to deal with this Gem's unique abilities we have sent a grenade launcher and other explosives. Our research on Lapis Lazuli's have lead us to believe normal rounds won't be able to destroy her water constructs, if you run out of explosives equip a shotgun with heavy slug rounds," Marcus instructed pulling up images of the pillar and weapons as he spoke. "Want to hear something funny?"

"What?" Anders asked by the sudden question.

"It seems a lot of members of blue diamond court have telekinesis such as hydrokinesis or psychic abilities such as Sapphire or this new Lapis Lazuli," Marcus said happy by hypotheses.

"What makes you so sure that this Lapis was in her court?" Anders asked interested.

"Simple the Diamonds like above average gems, gems that are skilled in their field for example Yellow Diamond controls the Military and Security so she would have the most tactical gems or best warriors in the court. I believe that Blue Diamond was in charge of discovering and colonizing new planets so logically she would have gems that would help terraforming new planets so a gem with psychic control over water would be quite useful and plus she is blue," Marcus explained proudly.

"Let's just get back on the mission," Anders rolled his eyes.

"Anyways the pillar has stretched into space with Lapis on top so since we can't afford a space shuttle the plan is blow up the bottom of the pillar and throw a special bomb into the middle of where the pillar stood before it reformed, the bomb will ride up to the top of the pillar and explode once it reaches the top of the pillar and boom it kills her," Marcus sent a picture of the bomb. "I am sending the supplies to you right now."

The warp pad lite up and a box holding the weapons appear on top of it. "Do you need a vehicle?" Marcus asked.

"No I will just put some sand tires on my bike," Anders said.

"Ok good luck soldier," Marcus said with a smile and saluted.

Anders saluted him and the transmission ended, the Gems, Greg, Lion, a girl and Steven entered the house and stood in the living.

"How could I have known the Gem contained in that would be so powerful?" Pearl asked herself.

Steven walked forward towards the door. "Where are you going?" the girl asked.

"I'm leaving to fix what I did to our home. I was the one who set Lapis free from the mirror. Now it's my fault the ocean's gone. I'm gonna bring the ocean back or get really thirsty trying," Steven said seriously.

"Well it's a dumb move going by yourself I can tag along," Anders said stepping out of his makeshift office with a smile on his face.

His face was shaved down to the stubble and his long hair was held down by his bandana, his jungle camo uniform was clean pressed and had a star patch under the normal T.O.U logo. On his back was a shotgun and at his side was a grenade launcher around his belt were grenades, he held at his side a satchel.

"Wait up kiddo. I'm coming with you," Greg said happily.

"I want to help too, also I feel weird being in your house if you're not here," The girl added.

"Who are you?" Anders asked staring at the girl.

"I'm Connie pleasure to meet you mister…" Connie introduced herself waiting for Anders to do the same.

"I'm Commander Anders J. Sherman of the T.O.U forces," Anders held out his hand.

Connie shook it. "You got a firm grip," Anders chuckled.

Lion roared and put its' paw on Stevens' head. "Clearly we're coming too," Pearl said.

"You're ungrounded by the way," Garnet said.

"Whoo-hoo! Road trip!" Amethyst yelled as she jumped on the counter.

After a few minutes the group got to the assorted vehicles and drove down the beach, they drove past Mayor Dewey who was crying trying to fill the beach with a water hose.

"So how is Anders related to you?" Connie asked looking over to Anders.

"He isn't really he is my Godfather," Steven answered.

"T.O.U that sounds familiar he works in the military right?" Connie asked.

"No he's a mercenary," Steven said casually.

"Wait what!" Connie yelled out surprised. "Steven the T.O.U mercenaries are some of the most deadliest and elite mercenaries in the world."

"That's what it says on our business cards," Anders quipped as he drove alongside the two.

Connie nearly leapt in the air in surprised. "Oh hey there Mister Sherman," Connie said nervously.

"Hey there's no need to be scared I don't kill unless I get paycheck," Anders then laughed loudly.

Connie nervously chuckled along, when suddenly Garnet kicked open a door of Greg's van and rolled out of it, Anders pulled up to her. "Need a ride?" Anders asked casually.

Garnet shrugged and leapt on top of the van. "I guess not," Anders said as he started to drive.

Night fell quick enough; Anders took a sip of his coffee canister as he drove through the sand. The Gems and Steven talked from inside of the van, Anders looked up and stared at Garnet, she stared back at his star patch.

She chuckled. "Nice star," Garnet said with a smirk.

"You all had one so I thought I might join in on the fun," Anders shrugged.

"You know that means you're one of us," Garnet informed.

"I know I thought it could be a symbol of peace between us," Anders said with a sigh.

"It's a start," Garnet commented. "So how many more kilometers do we have to go?"

"Oh you learned the metric system," Anders said surprised.

"Nope just using the phrase," Garnet said casually.

"Of course, but for your information another thirty kilometers," Anders sighed.

Another twenty kilometers later the Gem's and human neared the water tower.

Steven gasped. "That's some magical destiny stuff right there," Connie said breathlessly.

"Guys…I just had the best idea for an album cover," Greg said breathlessly.

"Ok here is the plan get me the tower to I can plant bombs around," Anders informed them. "The tower should then be ready."

"Would Lazuli be safe?" Steven asked worried.

"Yeah of course," Anders lied.

"What does she want with the ocean?" Pearl asked.

"Who cares all that matters is that we get it back before the proxy wars get worse," Anders said he sped up.

The group drove forward to the tower. "Hey Anders what's a proxy war?" Steven asked his head popping out a window.

"A proxy war is a war fought between guys like me mercenaries you see when big bad governments such as the US doesn't want to get blame for a war, but they want the land or money or so on they send in forces like mine, but now the other big bad government doesn't want to get involved for with the war or a third party wants to get involved but doesn't want to go into the battle full on they will send more mercenaries and the mercenaries will fight against each other now since we are short on water governments are send mercenaries to secure water sources in the middle east and Africa," Anders explained long windily.

"Oh!" Steven said. "I still don't get it."

Anders sighed when suddenly his phone buzzed, he parked his bike and pulled out his phone, he stared at a message, "Honey I know you're on a mission and I heard what happened to the water, just stay safe 3 you," Anders read off his phone. He smiled and sent a text back. His phone buzzed again he read another text, "Yo dad I just blew up a tank lol love ya good luck bye," a picture of a burnt tank and a soldier wearing a balaclava giving a thumbs up appeared on his phone. Anders sighed and sent him a picture of the water tower.

"Twentieth doesn't train 'em like the used to," Anders sighed trying to hide his smile.

Anders drove up to the rest of the group and parked with the rest of them, Connie stared at the water tower. "This is just like a giant aquarium," Connie said mystified.

"You shouldn't be here!" Lapis's voice boomed.

Anders pulled out his grenade launcher and reached for his satchel. "She sensed us," Garnet said.

"Lapis it's me Steven!" Steven yelled.

Anders threw a C4 explosive at one part of the tower. "Three more," Anders whispered to himself.

The water formed Lapis's' face. "Go away before I make you," She threatened.

Anders slowly crept to the west side of the tower. "But we're beach summer fun buddies," Steven said sadly.

Stevens' face formed out of water. "Nooo!" It yelled in a distorted voice.

Steven and Connie gasped. "You're one of them. One of the Crystal Gems!" Lapis face formed again.

Anders placed another C-4 pack and started to move to the south side. "What do you mean? We are all Gems right? Just let us help you," Steven said worried.

"You don't understand, just leave me alone," Lapis said depressed.

"We're not leaving until you give us back our ocean!" Steven yelled.

"Just leave me…" Water clones of the Gems and Steven formed. "Alone!"

Anders was about to throw another pack of C-4 when a water clone of his leapt out of the tower and pushed him down on the ground and held him down. "Oh now you're gonna play," Anders grabbed a grenade and pushed it into his clones' body.

The clone started to choke him, Anders gasped for air as the clones' grip got tighter. Then the grenade went off blowing the clone apart, Anders rolled away the tower and held his neck regaining his breath.

"Ha it will take a lot more than that to kill old Anders," He said happily as he stood up.

Suddenly more clones of him appeared out of the tower, Anders sighed. "Hey Lazuli I'm going to save a grenade just for!" Anders yelled as he pulled out his grenade launcher.

Two clones charged at he through the air, Anders glared at the two and gripped his launcher tightly. He shot grenade, the recoil knocked him back a bit. The grenade blasted apart the two, a third one leapt into and tried to smash Anders into the ground, he jumped backwards nearly dodging the impact. Anders shot at random nearly missing the clone, the third clone blew apart. Three more surrounded him and leapt towards him, Anders growled and threw smoke bomb down on the ground. The smoke covered the plain, when it disappeared Anders was gone. The clones looked around but found nothing; they looked down and saw a grenade in each of their bodies. Anders was casually walking whistling when he heard three loud explosions come from behind him; Anders threw a C-4 pack on the south edge of the tower. Four more clones appeared out of the tower and glared at him, Anders merely rolled his eyes.

"Seems like I'm in for a long night," Anders sighed.

Anders prepared another shot as they clones took a battle stance. "I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT!" Steven yelled across the battlefield.

Suddenly a loud ringing noise made the clones blow up, Anders ran around the tower (he threw the final C-4 pack as he ran) and watched Steven entered it. "Wait did I miss?" Anders asked confused.

"We fought clones, Greg broke his leg and van, and Steven is now going to talk to Lapis," Amethyst informed him casually.

"Wait you just gave him to the hands of the enemy!" Anders yelled surprised.

"He wanted to talk her down," Pearl said nervously.

"Well if that fails," Anders reached for his detonator. "We have a plan B."

Anders and the rest of the group stared at the tower waiting for something to happen. Anders phone buzzed he looked at the message, "Damn that Gem stuff is cool anyway you can put me on your staff?" his son asked. Anders texted back, "Sure as soon as you can be a one man swat team," Anders' sighed. Everything got deathly quiet, a nervous tension took hold. Suddenly the tower rumbled and destabilized. Anders pulled out his rebreather (like in James Bond) and watched the tower fall apart.

"The whole tower is falling apart!" Garnet yelled.

"What about Steven?" Greg yelled worried.

Connie looked at Lion and got on top of him, the two ran into a portal. "What else can that lion do?" Anders asked as he put on his rebreather.

In a matter of seconds the group teleported back. "Steven!" Greg yelled just as the water hit the beach.

A giant wave covered the beach and everything went black. Daylight filled the sky and the water reached Beach City. Mayor Dewey stopped crying and noticed the water hitting his knees. The van floated out of the water safely inside a bubble. The bubble popped and the group fell on the ground. An array of laughter, grunts, and laughter filled the air. Anders took off his rebreather and groaned and fell back in the sand, just as Greg's van fell apart.

Pearl looked at the distressed Greg and chuckled awkwardly. "What's that you always say about the pork chops and hotdogs?" Pearl asked nervously.

A crowd of cheering citizens ran towards the group, Mayor Dewey ran forward and hugged Steven, the crowd then joined in. Connie laughed and Amethyst hugged Lion as Anders leaned back on a boulder. Greg is crying in front of his van and a fisherman gave him a handkerchief. Ander's deck rang and Twentieth face appeared on the screen.

Anders saluted him. "Calm down Anders I just wanted to say nice work on neutralizing the threat," Twentieth said calmly.

"No problem sir the Gems were a great assist to the mission," Anders said calmly.

"Hmm that's surprising," Twentieth said with a yawn. "We made a lot of money tonight that's always good."

Anders nodded. "It's funny these governments were more concerned about image rather than their citizens sure they sent us to protect their water, but they weren't brave enough to do it themselves," Twentieth chuckled sadly. "Government's only care about images they wanted to make it look like they were in control, but really they were scared shitless."

"Aren't they always sir," Anders sadly agreed.

"Yup," He overheard the clapping and cheering in the background. "Hmm what's that?"

"Just the citizens congratulating us," Anders informed him.

Twentieth smirked. "I haven't heard that in years," Twentieth said with a whimsical smile. "Hey come back to base let's share a drink."

"Of course sir," Anders said returning the smile.

The Traveler's Deck turned off just as a single star twinkles in the sky.


	17. Meet The Mercs

Meet the Mercs

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders sat back in his makeshift office, he over looked the reports scattered across his desk. He picked up an old file dated back to 1995 and stared at the title. "Black Opal-Project #1760; Cluster", he put the file down and sighed and moved on to the next report he had to fill out. He wrote in the title "Lapis Incident-Homeworld Gem on Earth #2", he reached for his coffee mug and continued to write.

When suddenly a loud voice boomed. "Hi Anders!" Steven said happily.

Anders jolted up startled nearly spilling his coffee. "Oh hey Steven," Anders said calming down. "Don't surprise people like that."

"Sorry," Steven said with a sheepish chuckle. "So what cha doing?"

"Writing up reports, reviewing old files, the boring part of my job," Anders said bored.

"Wait you have to do paperwork, but that so boring," Steven groaned.

"Tell me about," Anders said with a sigh.

"So why do you have to this stuff?" Steven asked as he stared at a giant stack of papers.

"I command the tactical and special ops division of the T.O.U forces I'm in complete control of it that goes with all the paper work too, I'm in charge of a budget, planning, and also I am in co-command of the gem stuff so I have to go through those files as well," Anders explained furrowing his brow.

"I bet some of that gem stuff is cool though," Steven said half-heartedly.

"Sure maybe for the first two years, but after sixteen years of dealing with it becomes mediocre," Anders said with a groan.

"I bet have a few cool stories dealing with it right?" Steven asked excitedly.

Anders went silent and briefly flashed back to Black Opal. "…Yeah I got a couple of stories," Anders said hollowly. "Are you supposed to be with the Gems or Connie or something?" Anders asked quickly wanting to change the subject.

"No Connie was busy with tennis, the Gems have been in the temple all day, Dad is out buying stuff for the car wash, and the big doughnut is closed," Steven said with a pout.

"Well I got to run to base to drop off a few files I guess you can come with," Anders said meekly.

"Really awesome!" Steven beamed. "Let's go!" Steven hopped on the warp pad. "Oh wait I don't know how to get there."

"One sec I got to change first, and then we'll go," Anders said walking into the bathroom.

Anders walked out moments later in uniform and pulled out his Traveler's Deck as he stepped on the warp pad. He pressed a button the pad activated. They appeared out a giant concreate wall with barb wire stretched along the top of it. The wall was over eight feet tall and very dense. Steven and Anders walked along a road to a large gate with two guard towers on its left and right. Five soldiers looked down at the two and saluted and opened the steel gate. They entered the compound, multiply steel and stone buildings flanked their building, retractable barriers were scatter along the roads, guards towers were placed around the edges and middle of the of the compound, and squads of soldiers patrolled across the area. In the distance was a flight tower and three hangers, cargo planes and helicopters covered the landing strip. A tank rolled passed Steven and Anders, Steven stared it with his pupils as stars. A sniper waved to Anders from on top of a three story building. Bullets and explosions rang in the distance. Soldiers jogged past them, a single soldier stopped and jogged towards them. He was average sized 6,1ft with a lanky building he had black hair that was in a buzz cut, his face was a bit round, and brown eyes, he smiled and saluted at Anders.

"Hello Commander Dad," The soldier said with a smirk.

Anders returned it. "Private Son you do know I can kick you out for skipping out for training right," Anders said playfully.

"Sorry Commander," The soldier said going along.

"Sorry ain't good enough soldier drop and give me twenty," Anders ordered.

The soldier nodded and started to do pushups, Anders smiled happily. "Steven I'd like to introduce you to our local explosives expert and newest recruit my son Wallace Sherman," Anders said warmly.

"Wow this is your son," Steven said surprised. "He doesn't look like you."

"That's a blessing," Wallace quipped finishing the pushups.

"I don't look that bad," Anders said with a sigh.

Wallace poked his Dads stomach. "You're starting to get a dad bod," Wallace chuckled.

Anders glared at his son making him back off. "And who's this little guy my replacement," Wallace said faking being hurt.

"What no I'm Steven," Steven said chuckling.

"Be careful he might force you to wear a bandana for the rest of your life," Wallace said in an obvious whisper. "My blood circulation is still messed up."

Steven chuckled. "Son your drill Sergeant will ride you if you keep slacking off get going," Anders said with a sigh.

"Yeah ok peace dad!" Wallace said as he ran off.

Anders smiled proudly. "He isn't really like you," Steven said as soon as Wallace was gone.

"Yeah he takes after his mother, they even have the same build," Anders said casually. 

The T.O.U flag proudly flew above the compound as they walked over to the R&D and entered it. The building was more clean and upgraded; computers, laptops, holographic screens, weapons and being vehicles upgraded, and scientists running left and right. Marcus said in front of a giant holographic screen coughing slightly. The sixty eight year old had liver spots on his bald head and his skin color was a tan leather brown. His bright hazel eyes glowed in the dim lab, crow's feet and wrinkles dotted his face. Anders smiled and tapped his friend on the back. Marcus jolted to life and moved his wheelchair to look at the man. Marcus smiled meekly.

"Oh hello Anders did you bring back those files for me?" Marcus asked politely.

Anders pulled out the files from under his shirt. "Of course sir," Anders said giving the files to him.

"Ah very good we are gaging the gem you encountered as we speak soon we shall have a decisive stra…" Marcus went silent as soon as he saw Steven. "Is that?"

"Yes it is sir," Anders said.

A silence took hold making Steven feel nervous, Marcus eyes observed Steven. "You are the Quartz boy yes?" Marcus asked already knowing the answer.

"Umm yes," Steven said nervously.

Marcus wheeled himself over to Steven quickly and feebly tried picking him up. "Oww my arms," Marcus winced.

"Oh my I'm sorry," Steven said concerned.

"That doesn't matter look at you!" Marcus exclaimed brightly. "I always wondered what you would like when you grew up," Marcus said pinching Steven's cheeks.

"Oww," Steven groaned. "Wait you knew me?"

"Why I was the one the delivered you!" Marcus said proudly.

"Really?" Steven said surprised.

"Yes your birth was a great triumph for science and my research," Marcus said strongly with a smile.

"Well I'm happy that I helped you," Steven said with a confident smirk.

"Indeed just look at you," Marcus said with wonder. "Do you have a gem? Can you summon a weapon? What abilities do you posses? Do you have any of Rose's memories?" Marcus shot question after question excitedly.

Anders sensed that Steven was feeling a bit overwhelmed. "Hey Marcus calm down you can question him later," Anders said with a nervous chuckle, he then whispered. "And plus if Pearl heard about you questioning him like this she would shove a spear up your ass."

Marcus winced. "Yeah we can speak at another Steven pleasure to meet you," Marcus said as the two walked off.

"He is interesting," Steven said trying to find the right words.

"Yeah sorry about Marcus he tends to over excite easily," Anders said with a sharp inhale.

"But he's a nice guy though," Steven said with a smile.

"Yeah my life wouldn't be the same without him," Anders said fondly.

"Anything else you need to do?" Steven asked enjoying his time.

"Well we can check in with an old friend and that should be it," Anders said with a slight frown.

Steven noticed the frown and felt a bit sad. "What's wrong?" Steven asked worried about Anders.

"Oh nothing just a bad memory," Anders said walking towards the airfield.

Steven nodded still wanting to know what was wrong. The afternoon sun hung over the compound, it was a warm summer day, birds were tweeting and flowers were blooming. The sky was in an orangish purple color. Anders walked to a Blackhawk with the T.O.U logo spray painted on it, along with other tags like Pequod flies again, a knife, a cracked black gem. The helicopter was covered in a few scratches and looked like it saw its fair share of combat. A man wearing aviator sunglasses sat in a lawn chair by the copter, he had bleach blonde hair and blonde sideburns. The radio sitting next to him was playing "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". He looked up at Anders smiled.

"Hey Commander twelve years now right?" Pequod said with a sigh as he got up.

"Yeah buddy, he would be proud of you," Anders said with a sigh patting him on the back.

"I would hope so," Pequod said emptily. "Hey but let's move on I see you brought the cutie pie."

Pequod smiled and waved to Steven, he blushed. "Aww I'm not that cute," Steven said embarrassed with a dismissing hand motion.

"What you more cute then a barrel of kittens," Pequod said with a corny southern accent.

"Haha is this your helicopter?" Steven asked staring at the Blackhawk.

"Yup she's some beaut isn't she," Pequod tapped the haul proudly. "Been with her for fourteen years now."

"Fourteen years that helicopter is older than me," Steven said surprised.

"I know I can out maneuverer the guys using the new models too, in fact I'm the best pilot on earth," Pequod said with a cocky smile.

"Really?" Steven asked starry eyed.

"Yeah I once shot down a jet fighter in this," Pequod said with a smile.

"That's awesome!" Steven said excitedly.

"I know you think old man Anders here is cool wait till you see what I can do," Pequod said with a shit eating grin.

"I am four years older than you," Anders shot Pequod a glare.

"Kidding," Pequod said placing his hand up, then he whispered. "Not."

Steven giggled, suddenly a single figure appeared walking down the run way. The radio changed to a Spanish song singing the phrase El Diablo. The figures brown trench coat blew fiercely in the wind, his footsteps echoed with each step. The sun's light shone through the eighty two year old man gray hair. On one of his hands he was spinning a revolver. Twentieth walked over to the group. He looked down at Steven, his gray eyes pierced through the young boy. Steven backed away while Pequod and Anders saluted.

Twentieth pulled out a cigarette and his lighter, he put the cigarette in his mouth and lite it up. "So this is the Quartz boy," Twentieth said breaking the silence.

"Yes sir," Anders said stopping his salute.

He looked at Steven who seemed quite nervous, Twentieth took a long drag of cigarette. "Don't be scared you have nothing to fear," Twentieth said reassuringly.

"Hi I'm Steven," Steven said walking forward.

"I'm Twentieth pleasure to meet you Mister Universe," Twentieth said in his calm raspy voice.

"Twentieth that's an odd name," Steven said calming down.

"Heh it's a nickname everyone here has one," Twentieth said with a smirk.

"Oh that's cool! Can I be called Dog Copter?" Steven asked excitedly.

"Sure if you were a couple of years older and signed up with us," Twentieth said with an eye roll.

"So what's Anders nickname?" Steven asked interested.

"Phantom of the Shotgun, but we just call him Phantom for short," Twentieth answered casually.

Anders blushed. "My wife came up with it," Anders pipped in.

"So how did you get your nickname?" Steven asked Twentieth interested.

"I am the best merc of the twentieth century it is only fair that I get named after it," Twentieth said with a yawn. "Hey Anders don't forget you owe me a drink," Twentieth said as he walked off.

"He was awesome," Steven said breathlessly.

"Come on Steven let's go home," Anders said with a sigh.

"Yeah let's get to the warp pad," Steven said happily.

"How about you two ride in style?" Pequod pointed to his Blackhawk.

Steven looked at Anders excitedly. "Fine he can give us a ride," Anders said.

"Yay!" Steven jumped with joy.

Later at night a single man walked through a field of flowers that were on top of a cliff. Surrounding the cliff was a large forest. The man stopped over a broken gasmask and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

"Hey Morpho been a long time since we last talked, you were the smarter one out of the two of us, I remember when we used to raise hell in the streets. Pequod's doing…" Anders continued to talk to broken gasmask.


	18. Warp Tour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Curse my terrible writing when it comes to speeches and characterization

Warp Tour

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders, Pearl, and Amethyst walked out of a large field of flowers towards the warp pad. A gentle breeze kept everything cool; the sky was a vibrant pinkish color.

"I can't believe that went so well!" Pearl said excited and surprised.

"Yeah usually one of us would be smashed into a wall," Anders said as he cleaned his shotgun.

"That was kinda great when you hit it with your spear and it went, like, bing-bong!" Amethyst made an explosion noise.

Pearl blushed. "And the way you were circling around it? Almost looked like strategy," Pearl complemented.

Amethyst blushed and laughed. "Well yeah I can do that stuff too," Amethyst said awkwardly.

"Remember when I swooped in and rode on its back," Anders said with a chuckle.

"Yeah that was awesome!" Amethyst complemented.

Anders chuckled. Garnet and Steven walked out of a large patch of flowers; Garnet sent a gem to the temple. Steven had a runny nose and red eyes.

"Wait up!" Steven said out of breath. "Sorry I couldn't help much, I think the flowers are making me-" Steven sneezed on Garnet's hip. "Sorry, Garnet."

"I'll live," Garnet said wiping it off.

"Oh, Steven, you're supposed to sneeze into your antecubital fossa," Pearl said disgusted.

"My what?" Steven looked at her confused.

"Your elbow," Anders said as he put his shotgun on his back.

"Ooo," Steven said realizing it.

They got on the warp pad and activated the stream. Anders yawned as they flew through the stream, while Steven looked like he was about to sneeze.

"Nope," Anders said floating upwards.

"Do it at Pearl," Amethyst said snickering.

"Steven your fossa," Pearl freaked out.

Steven sneezed and his head was launched out of the stream. "Oh shit!" Anders said swimming downwards towards Steven.

Pearl and Anders pulled him back into the stream. "Be careful kid we're above the stratosphere," Anders said with a breath of relief.

"There's not much air and it's very cold," Garnet flicked one of frozen icicles of snot making it break.

"You guys I saw something out!" Steven said sounding scared.

"What?" Pearl asked confused.

"Something was warping," Steven explained.

"Steven, that's not possible. Is your vision blurry from the pollen?" Pearl asked worried.

"I can see perfectly," Steven stopped and squinted his eyes. "Pearl? And I know something was out."

"Steven it was probably just a few mercs or Marcus running a test nothing to worry about," Anders said trying to calm him down.

"And besides that nothing has been out there for a long, long time," Garnet reassured.

The Gems and Anders returned to the Beach House and the rest of the day went by normally. Night came quickly; Anders snored from the comfort of his sleeping bag next to the temple doors. Anders awoke to a loud scream; he looked over to see a drenched Pearl and Garnet holding a cookie tray. Anders yawned and got up. Anders started to brew a cup of coffee while gems talked; he was wearing camo pajama pants and a white tank top. His dog tags jangled as he walked.

"Slow down Amethyst," Garnet said as Amethyst chowed down the cookies.

"I'm sorry Pearl, I guess I didn't…" Steven trailed off tiredly.

"Didn't sleep," Garnet placed a finger on her chin pensively.

"Yeah," Steven yawned.

"Oh, Steven!" She wiped water out of eye. "This isn't about the thing you think you saw outside the warp stream yesterday, is it?" Pearl asked semi-worried.

Amethyst threw the cookie tray away as Anders finished brewing his coffee. "But it was real! Something was warping somewhere in the warp!" Steven yelled assured.

"Steven trust me it was just a few of my soldiers fooling around or something," Anders said reassuringly.

Pearl placed her hand on Steven's cheeks and added on. "Listen. Nothing on Earth can use the warps but us. Do you understand?" Steven looks away. "Steven, nod in agreement if you understand. Nod in agreement-" Pearl was interrupted.

"I'm confident Pearl is right. But if it'll make you feel better, we can just go check," Garnet said getting their attention.

"Can I at least take off my pajamas before we go?" Anders asked tiredly, his long hair was in a bedhead that spilt in four directions.

"Oh yes good ahead," Pearl said slightly off put by his hair.

The gems warped to an array of locations, Anders glared at the Geode as they passed by it.

They stopped at the sky spire. "Whoa look at that," Amethyst said pointing at a family of goats. "Heh Steven Jr. been busy," Amethyst said playfully laughing. "This makes you a grandma."

"Wait you guys adopted a goat?" Anders asked confused.

Garnet rubbed Steven's head. "Congratulations," Garnet said.

"Hey! We are getting off task," Steven pointed out.

Anders was interested and surprised by the outburst. "We've looked all over! There's nothing out here to find!" Pearl said sounding rather passive aggressively.

Steven mumbled something and rolled his eyes. "Excuse me?!" Pearl asked sounding rather annoyed.

"I mean what if you're wrong?" Steven asked annoyed and passive aggressively.

"Nothing can use these warps except for us and those people," Pearl shot a glare at Anders.

"If you a problem with me Gem say it to my face," Anders brandished his handgun.

"Well what if it came from space!?" Steven shot angrily.

"I don't appreciate your tone," Pearl said.

The group warped to the galaxy warp, Anders groaned. "Ugh I got a bad feeling," Anders muttered to himself.

"These are the warps that once connected us to other planets. If something tried to come from space, it would be through here. But wait! This warp pad is broken, marked inactive by the very depressed cartoon breakfast sticker you placed here yourself!" Pearl explained angrily while pointing at the sticker.

"Looks like Pearl is right again, don't worry Steven you'll get used to it," Amethyst said reassuringly.

"We're safe," Garnet placed a hand on Steven's shoulder.

"Yeah I guess so," Steven sighed.

Anders stared at the starry night sky. "Yeah we're safe," Anders said seeming out of it. "Totally safe."

Anders continued staring while Steven placed a hand on one of the stickers and looked unhappy. "Oh man I'm glad this is over it took all day," Amethyst said happily.

"It was important to make Steven feel secure," Garnet added.

"Yes, Steven feels much better now," Pearl said confidently.

Anders continued to stare still lost in thought, Steven gets angry as the Gems spoke, and he gets up and faces them. "I'm a little tired... of you guys telling me how I feel! I know I saw something outside the stream!" Steven yelled angrily.

"I know you didn't!" Pearl said upset.

Amethyst and Garnet looked at each, then the two arguing in front of them, meanwhile a light sparkled in the middle of the sky, Anders noticed the sudden spark and heard a small boom. "Hey could you guys check if anything entered Earth atmosphere in the last twenty four to thirty hours," Anders sent the message over his Traveler's Deck.

"Uh this is new," Amethyst said while looking at the arguing Pearl and Steven.

Pearl rolled her eyes. "Steven, you just don't know what you're talking about," Pearl growled upset.

"It sounds like, maybe; you don't know what I'm talking about!" Steven yelled frustrated.

"Ugh," Pearl grunted equally frustrated.

"Okay Steven, Pearl that's enough," Garnet said getting between the two. "Let's go back."

They warped back and Anders put on his camo jacket. "Where are you going?" Garnet asked interested.

"Going to the bar, I need a drink," Anders said with a sigh and walked out the doors.

A few hours later Anders walked back to the Beach House, he walked in just when Amethyst walked back into the temple, he noticed Steven glaring at the warp pad. "Hey buddy," Anders said walking over to him.

Steven glared at Anders and returned to looking at the warp pad. "Ah you're paranoid," Anders said sitting alongside him. "Yeah, I know that feeling," Anders paused and continued. "So you snapped at the Gems…"

"Yeah," Steven said with a sigh.

"Good," Anders said to Steven's surprised. "They treat you like a doll sometimes, you noticed that. They care to much about you. Deep down I can tell they are good parents, but still remember Steven human feelings are they're strong suit. "

Steven looked up at the man, Anders continued. "You know Steven I got one of my feelings they don't pop up unless something important is happening, the last time I felt one this big…" Anders briefly flashed back to Black Opal for a second. "It wasn't pretty. I don't know what it could be, maybe it was what you saw in the warp space who knows, but still I'm proud. You stood your ground against an uptight helicopter parent alien not many can say that."

Steven chuckled. "Thanks Anders," Steven stomach growled.

"Let me grab you something to eat I think the Big Doughnut is still open," Anders said getting up and walked out the front door.

As Anders walked down the beach he heard another small boom and looked into the sky. Then he heard a loud crashing noise, he turned around and saw a pillar of dust coming from the beach house. Anders ran towards the house and kicked open the door, he saw Steven disappear into the warp stream with something. The gems ran out of the temple just as the stream disappeared.

Anders pulled out his Deck and got on the stream. "What are you all waiting for!" He yelled.

The gems leapt on the pad and they entered the stream. "Where is he?" Ander asked no one as they floated.

Garnet reached out of the stream instantly and pulled Steven in along with a strange robotic orb. "Oh umm welp," Anders said at a loss of words.

"Take deep breath," Garnet said caringly, she held the drone. "So, this is what you saw."

"I don't care about that now," Steven said tearfully.

"I do," Garnet adjusted her visor. "I should've of listened to you're a Crystal Gem too," Garnet said with a smile.

Steven grinned at her gratefully; Anders grabbed the drone and stared at it. "No," He said under his breath.

"Steven!" Pearl cried out when she floated up to them. "are you okay?! Amethyst heard the Warp Pad activate, and Garnet said you were floating outside the stream and…" She saw the drone. "What is that?"

Anders scanned it. "Whoooah that thing is far out," Amethyst said interested.

"It's some kind of space robot. There were tons of them! And it looked like they were all going to the same place," Steven explained.

Anders took pictures of it and continued to analyze it with his Deck. They arrived at the Galaxy Warp where a large group of the drones were gathering around the Homeworld Warp. The drone in Anders hand leapt out of his grip and joined the other drones. Anders quickly scanned and took pictures of the drones; he also took a sample of their gel. The Gems ran towards them.

"What are they doing to the Galaxy Warp," Pearl asked.

"There's millions of them," Amethyst said astonished, the drones finished spraying their gel and the Homeworld pad looked go as new. "They fixed it."

"What does it mean," Steven asked confused.

"Hell," Anders gripped his handgun tightly. "It means hell."

The Gems and Steven looked at the soldier surprised. He had a shocked and worried look on his face.

"This Gem stuff never has a good ending," Anders reached into his jacket.

Suddenly a green gem appears in a warp stream on the Homeworld Pad. Garnet grabbed the humans and gems and leapt off the side of the Galaxy Warp and grabbed the side of the construct.

"Hmm," The gem said looking over the area.

"Who is that?" Steven asked wide eyed.

"Don't know, don't care," Anders growled, he started to record the event. "All I know is it isn't going to be here much longer."

The Gem created a screen out of her fingers. "Log date: 3 1 2. This is Peridot, performing Earth hub maintenance check," Peridot said as a drone crawled on her shoulder.

"Her name is Peridot," Steven whispered to them.

"Warp repairs a success. All 79 flask robonoids deployed and accounted for. Preparing to locate and manually reactivate Kindergar-" She gasped as the damaged robonoid tried to crawl up her leg.

"Aww it's like one of her babies," Steven said cutely.

Peridot glared at the robonoid annoyed and smashed it. Steven gasped, but he got his mouth covered by Pearl and Amethyst, they pull him down.

"Now to access the domestic warp," Peridot walked down the stairs and noticed the Crying Breakfast Friends sticker. "This site may have been compromised," She walked back on the Homeworld Warp pad and placed a device on it.

She warped away and the device disabled the robonoids, the Gems and Anders leapt back on to the top. "They are coming back," Pearl cried fearfully and covered her face with her hands. "I can't do it, not again!"

"We're dead! So dead!" Amethyst cried out.

"Was that another gem? Where did she come from? What was she trying to do?" Steven shot off questions.

"It doesn't matter," Anders said menacingly as he walked forward, the wind made his jacket flap in the air. "You see these monsters want to fuck with my planet that's all that matters," A shadow covered his face as he pulled out a glowing red device out of his jacket. "You heard what she said repairing the warps, doing maintenance, and reactivating the kindergarten," Anders threw the device down on the Homeworld Pad. "All of which you know hurts Earth," Anders didn't look back at the Gems. "That I cannot allow; Black Opal, Lapis Lazuli, and now this thing. All of whom ruined us in some way or another. I won't let it happen again, if these Gems want to mess we my shit, well this time we will be prepared," Anders pressed a detonator and the device blew the top section of the Homeworld Pad apart, lighting it on fire, he turned his head half the way to look at the Gems and Steven, his brown eye glowed in the darkness and his body shone due to the fire. "This Gem thinks this sight is compromised she won't know they half of it. The T.O.U stretches across the globe now."

The Gems stared at him slightly frightened, Steven backed away. "Mind going now I have work to do," Anders said darkly.

The Gems nodded and warped away with Steven. "Who's Black Opal?" Steven asked as they warped away.

Anders pulled out a can of spray paint and made the T.O.U logo over the top of the Galaxy Warp. Twentieth and Marcus appeared out of the warp stream.

"We caught your signal," Marcus said.

"So these fucks are back," Twentieth said his face and body looked demonic in the fires light. "Never thought I would see the day. It's funny once you think about in hindsight, I always mocked the Gems for their mercy and inability to get a real job down, but I never thought it would it would come back to bite them this hard. So we get to murder aliens now, can't wait for it. Don't worry Anders we are much stronger then we were twelve years ago. We have over seven thousand members and war, it never changes, the Gem lost due to over confidence and believing too much in their own devices. It will always lead to failure. Anders nice speech by the way."

Anders merely nodded and looked out into the sky.


	19. Fishing Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this one, sorry about it being so long I was on a vacation then my laptop broke

Fishing Trip

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders sat in his office at the T.O.U compound reading over multiply reports on the Gems; he referenced the files he stole from the Crystal Gems, and Black Opal journal entries and experiment logs. His eyes had bags and bloodshot, the office reeked of coffee grinds. He bit his thumb and checked over the recording and analyzed Peridot being. He fell back into his chair and opened a file that read "Project: Shattered Shards" it compiled Black Opal research and their own scientist findings. Anders sighed rubbed his temples tiredly, suddenly there was a knock on his door. Startled Anders leapt out of his chair and fell one the ground, his wife walked into the room.

"Pepper what are you…you…," Ander started to doze off.

She picked up the soldier and put in his chair. "Anders you're running yourself ragged," Pepper said worried, she held his hand.

"No Pepper I'm fine," Anders argued half-heartedly.

"You haven't slept for a week!" She yelled concerned tightening her grip on his hand.

"Oww," Anders mumbled. "I'm keeping us safe."

"Honey," Pepper said sadly with a frown.

Anders stood up. "I got work to do," Anders tried to walk off, but Pepper didn't let go.

"You're doing it again," Pepper mumbled sounding slightly angered.

"Doing what?" Anders asked confused.

"You're driving yourself insane again!" Pepper yelled making Anders back down. "You do this all the time; you get so enthralled in your work you completely break down."

"Pepper please," Anders said weakly.

"No you listen stop working have you even looked in a mirror lately, you haven't left this office in days," Pepper cried.

Anders sighed and hugged her. "Sorry I'm just shocked," Anders said rubbing a hand through her long silky hair.

"It's ok," Pepper sighed. "Just take sometime off."

Steven stared at an old fishing boat at the docks. "Why are we here again?" Steven asked his dad confused.

"Well Anders asked if we wanted to go fishing and I thought it would be great bonding time for us," Greg said happily.

Greg smiled and waved at Anders who was on the ship dressed in stereotypical fishing gear, Anders merely nodded. "So Steven this will be your first time out at sea right?" Anders asked as the two boarded.

"Well one time I was with the Gems in this place called the sea spiral to make a long story short I kind of sort of sunk the sea spiral and we had to row ourselves home on a life raft," Steven explained with a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his neck kind of embarrassed.

"You sunk a temple," Anders said wide eyed.

Steven climbed on one of the benches. "Set the sails, batten the hatches, swab the poop deck," Steven chuckled. "We have a long day of sailing ahead of us me harties," Steven said talking like a pirate.

Greg walked over to Anders. "Hey thanks Anders I really wanted to take Steven fishing, but I can never find the time, thanks for setting this up," Greg thanked the man happily.

"Yeah I just really needed the time off and I thought hey a fishing trip may be a good way to unwind," Anders said with a chuckle. "I invited my son and a few work friends over is that ok?"

"Yeah of course it's your boat," Greg said. "By the way how did you get this boat?"

Anders went silent and failed at whistling casually and scooting away. "Permission to board captain?" A man asked from behind them.

They turned around and Pequod, Marcus, Twentieth, and Wallace were on the dock all wearing stereotypical fishing gear. Steven chuckled at Twentieth who was wearing a fishing hat with multiply bobbers pinned on it.

"We only have one week off per year and you choose a fishing boat to spend it," Pequod said dumbstruck. "You could've gone to Vegas."

"I like it some of the best moments of my life happened on a ship like when I fought against the Japanese, or the Viet Kong, or the Krauts," Twentieth listed off nonchalantly.

"I haven't gone fishing in over fifty years," Marcus reminisced.

"Better than herding cows on the farm," Wallace shrugged.

"Is that everyone?" Anders asked as they boarded the ship.

In the distance they saw a squad leader wearing a balaclava running towards them. "Guys wait!" He yelled.

"Yup that's everyone," Anders said ignoring him. "Greg hit it!"

Greg turned on the engine and they set off. "This will be great!" Steven said happily from the front of the boat.

The squad leader fell on the ground and cried. "Why can't we be more than work friends?!" He cried.

It was bright and sunny not a single cloud was in the sky. Mavericks flew over the lone boat as it crashed through small waves. The air smelled like salt and fish. Twentieth bent over and unzipped the bag he had, he pulled out a taken apart harpoon.

"Whoa what's that for?" Steven asked wide eyed.

"Harpoon fishing, I'm hoping I land something big," Twentieth said as he put it together.

"Twentieth I expected you to use something so primitive," Marcus said with a smug chuckle, he pulled out a highly advance looked fishing pole with glowing lights on it, Steven pupils turned into stars. "This here is the key to fishing success, a highly advance fishing pole that takes thermal reading of the water to pinpoint where the fish maybe, it also dispenses pheromones to trick the prey, it automatically reels back the fish if it got a bite, and it has a nice leather finish."

"That's so cool," Steven squealed excitedly.

Twentieth rolled his eyes. "Man leave it to the old guys to take the fun out this," Wallace said with a chuckle. "It's not about the how you get the fish, it's about how many fish you get," Wallace pulled out a box of dynamite. "And this is how you get a lot of fish."

Anders ripped the box out of his hands. "Where did you get this?" Anders asked slightly freaked out.

"Grandpa's bunker," Wallace said casually.

"Well you ain't fishing with these," Anders said walking off with the box.

"Come on dad can I at least use one," Wallace whined.

"No!" Anders yelled as he locked away the box.

Wallace pouted. "Whatever happened to good old fishing poles and worms?" Pequod asked with a sigh.

"You're telling me," Greg agreed as Marcus ranted about science.

"Hmm what's your name?" Pequod asked as he put on his sunglasses.

"Greg pleasure to meet you…" Greg waited for Pequod to answer.

"Pequod," Pequod said casually.

"Interesting name," Greg said skeptical about his name.

"My Dad's name was Morpho and my Mom's Mayflower I have a pretty tame name," Pequod said with a chuckle.

"I'm afraid to ask what your last name is," Greg said with an awkward chuckle.

"Kleperhimer," Pequod said nonchalantly.

"Ever been finishing little man?" Wallace asked Steven.

"Once when I was really little, but I don't remember it very well," Steven said as he grabbed a fishing pole.

"Well how about you learn from the master fisherman," Wallace said cockily as he grabbed a pole.

"You're a master fisherman," Steven said surprised.

"Yeah when I was your age I was able to catch and shark, in fact my middle is fisherman," Wallace made up oozing with self-confidence.

"Wow I don't think I will be able to catch a shark though," Steven said with a sigh.

"What are you talking about you have the master with my skills you're guaranteed a shark," Wallace said with a smirk.

"Really?" Steven asked hopefully.

"Yeah!" Wallace yelled back.

"Then let's do it!" Steven yelled determined raising his pole above his head.

Wallace chuckled and then realized what he just said, he went pale and gulped. The boat stopped in the middle of the ocean. Marcus wheeled himself to the front of the boat, Greg and Pequod took the right side, Wallace, Steven, and Anders took the left side, and Twentieth took the back. Twentieth took off his shirt and showed off his well tone and muscular figured. For an 82 year old he was more fit anyone else on the boat, Greg looked down at himself and sighed. Twentieth tied a rope to the back of his harpoon and tied another part of the rope to the boat. He stood at the ready with harpoon. Marcus casted his line and placed his fishing pole in a stand, he then closed his eyes and fell asleep as the automatic fishing pole did the work for him. The rest of the group simply casted their lines and waited. Twentieth was the first to get a catch he relied in a large fish. They floated for hours in near perfect silence. The sun beat down on them as they gently bobbed up and down. Steven groaned bored and disappointed despite catching three fish. Twentieth hasn't changed stance for hours like a statue having caught ten fish. Pequod and Greg politely chatted about ranging topics as they waited for a bite, Pequod has caught five and Greg four. Marcus still sleeping hasn't realized he has he has caught four fish. Wallace and Anders started a competition Anders in the lead with eight fish and Wallace has caught six. Marcus sound snoring echoed through the ship, his wheel car rolled up and down the deck. It was a very hot day; the only thing that kept them cool was the small amount of shade from the boat and a cool breeze.

"So Steven you're a gem right?" Wallace asked as he casted his line.

"Well I'm half Gem," Steven said as he carefully tried putting a worm on his hook.

"Do you have any powers?" Wallace asked interested.

"Well I do, but I can't really control them, other than the bubble," Steven explained sounding a bit weary.

"Bubble what's that?" Wallace asked excitedly. "Can you show me?"

"Well," Steven struggled with the decision; Wallace looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Fine."

"Wait what," Anders asked finally hearing their conversation.

Steven formed his bubble around him which knocked Wallace and Anders to the ground. "Oops sorry," Steven said with a sheepish smile.

Wallace got back up on his feet. "This Gem stuff is awesome," Wallace said as he poked a bubble.

"Yeah, but I wish it could help me catch a shark," Steven groaned.

"Kid you shouldn't be so reliant on that gem stuff," Twentieth said finally talking after being silent for hours. "Sometimes skill is more," Twentieth threw his harpoon, it gracefully flew through the air. "Important," The harpoon hit a fish; he reeled in a giant three foot long fish.

"That was awesome how did you do that?" Steven asked surprised.

Twentieth spun his harpoon in his hand. "Like I said kid sometimes skill is more important and I am the most skilled man in the world," Twentieth said with a cocky smile.

Anders rolled his eyes; he narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath suddenly a fish bit down on his hook. Anders effortlessly rip the fish out of the water smacked it down on the deck.

"We'll be eating like kings tonight," Pequod exclaimed happily. "They sure are biting out here how did you find out about this spot Anders?"

"A creepy toddler stared at me for like an hour then suddenly punched me in a gut with a paper having this location on it there was a picture of a lot of fish on it so I checked it out," Anders said casually.

"Was the kid about this big," Steven put his hand out to under his forehead. "Had pale skin, soulless eyes, and a unique haircut?" Steven asked very interested.

"Yeah why do you ask?" Anders asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No reason," Steven gulped

Meanwhile back in Beach City…

"Wa Wa Wah Wah Wah Waha?" Yellowtail asked his son Onion. (Translation: Onion have you seen the chart for my secret finishing spot, I need it to warn people that a shark was spotted around the area.)

Onion merely shrugged.

Back on the boat the group had stopped fishing with a total of thirty fish. Anders deboned them with the wunder boner, Wallace laughed at the name of the handy device his dad bought off a 90s infommercial. Marcus was still asleep on his wheel chair. Pequod's radio played music as they lounged around the boat. A shadow swam towards them quickly under the water. Pequod was leaning on edge of the boat and Twentieth was sharpening his harpoon. The shadow slowly raised as it continued to charge, Steven noticed a white fin pop out of the water.

"Look guys a shark!" Steven yelled excitedly.

"What?" The rest of the men said confused.

A giant white cross of a shark and a whale leapt out of the water, a pure white gem was on the beast's forehead. The hybrid gem crashed back into the water and then ripped a through a piece of the boat that was holding Pequod, the beast started to swallow him.

"I always knew I would go out like this!" Pequod cried out in despair.

"I'm not losing around pilot!" Anders ripped off his shirt and pulled out his combat knife. "With my knife I stab at thy!"

Ander leapt onto the beast back and repeatedly stabbed it while Pequod screamed in terror. Twentieth sighed and aimed his harpoon for the beast's gem. Marcus took the harpoon and mouthed not in front of Steven. Twentieth growled aimed for the beast's rear instead, he hit it dead on. The hybrid yelped in pain and spit Pequod out back on the deck and bucked Anders off on to the deck. Anders groaned while Pequod sobbed. The corrupt gem started to jet through the water and pulled the boat in tow, the sudden jolt slammed Greg and Marcus in the fish guts and bones. Twentieth tightened his grip and Anders helped. Wallace broke the lock to the dynamite and pulled out the box.

"Hey Steven you said you wanted to catch a shark right?" Wallace asked breathlessly Steven nodded his head. "Well here's your chance," Wallace pulled out a stick of dynamite.

Steven looked up at Wallace with stars in his eyes. They quickly tied the stick to a fishing pole and lit it up, Steven casted the line and was able to land the stick into the corrupt gem's mouth. Wallace held on to Steven as they reeled the corrupt gem closer to the boat. They dynamite blew up, smoke and soot covered Steven and Wallace. The gem floated over to Steven he bubbled it and showed it to the men.

"Hey guys I caught a shark," Steven said weakly.

"Yay," Wallace weakly cheered.

They collapsed on the deck with the rest of the men. "Can we eat a gem, because I really want to eat a gem," Pequod growled.

"Same time tomorrow?" Anders asked as he stared at the setting sun.

"Sure why not," Twentieth said nonchalantly.

They piloted the boat the beach by the temple. Pearl noticed the boat on the horizon and walked outside to greet them.

"Hello how did the trip…" Pearl stopped short and stared at the group.

Each one of them was holding a bucket of fish, but Anders and Twentieth were shirtless, Pequod was drenched and covered in slobber, Greg and Marcus was covered in blood and reeked of guts, and Steven and Wallace was dirty and reeked of gun powder.

"What happened?" Pearl asked dumbstruck.

"Nothing, other than me catching a shark!" Steven proudly raised the bubble in the air.

Before Pearl could speak again. "We're staying here tonight no objections," Twentieth growled.


	20. Marble Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...

Marble Madness

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING (Expect for Anders and the mercs)

Anders sat in his makeshift office and stared at the video chat on his Traveler's Deck, Marcus appeared on the other end.

"So how is the research going?" Anders asked with a yawn.

"No luck on figuring out what is Planet Buster, Shattered Shards is going along nicely, and our stealth program will be done by the end of the week," Marcus said proudly.

"Hmm what about Peridot?" Anders asked leaning back in his chair.

"We have destroyed twenty of those Marble robonoids she sent, and capture seven, we are currently reserving engineering two of them," Marcus sent pictures of the robonoids being taken apart. "We also intercepted her signal we have figured out how to reserve it on new gem technology," Marcus pulled up a video showing them being able to remotely shutdown one of the robonoids. "We're also conserving the goo just in case."

"What about Peridots as Gems?" Anders asked interested.

"They are nothing more than low-grade maintenance workers or tacticians their fighting capacities are low, but their intelligence is great, their common weapons crossbows for those few that did fight. The one scanned though is interesting, it differs from the Peridots we have hauled up here it seemed weaker like a lot of the features were taken out as well as the elements in their Gems formation is different," Marcus said interested. "I would love to see what makes them tick directly."

Anders merely went "hmm", a loud boom was heard. "Ugh," Anders groaned.

"This one is in your area, can you deal with it?" Marcus asked annoyed.

"Yeah of course," Anders said tiredly.

Anders grabbed his shotgun and ran outside with the Gems who just ran out of the temple. The Gems leapt on to the Beach while Anders ran beside, he waved to the kids as he passed. Steven waved to him happily while Connie only waved meekly. Garnet jumped towards the large robonoid and stopped it with her gauntlets.

"Pearl, Amethyst, Anders!" She yelled as she blocked it from advancing.

Amethyst and Pearl leapt into the air and went slamming into the robonoid; Anders shot its side making some of the goo leak. Pearl stabbed it making it blow apart and the goo went flying everywhere. Steven protected Connie with his bubble; the goo hit Anders covering him from head to toe, he sighed depressed.

"You okay?" Steven asked taking down her bubble.

"I love hanging out at your place," Connie said amazed.

Anders shuffled to Garnet and leaned on her, some of the goo dripped on her. He sighed tiredly; Garnet patted him on the back.

"Pearl, do you think this was-," Steven was cut off by Pearl.

"One of Peridot's Machines? Yes I think so, only... we've never seen one this big before," Pearl said going into deep thought.

"Or this gooey!" Amethyst yelled covered in goo.

"Amethyst, we need to be careful we don't know what this stuff is," Pearl scolded.

Amethyst snickered and looked at Pearl mischievously. "Oh no - Don't you dare get that stuff on me!" Pearl yelled backing away.

Amethyst spread her arms out in a hugging position. "Goop hug!" Pearl freaked out and ran back, Amethyst chased her.

"It's not goop, it's goo!" Anders yelled with a sigh.

"Come here Pearl, I love you!" Amethyst yelled still chasing her.

"Peridot. Is that the Gem you told me about? The one that's trying to come to Earth?" Connie asked interested

"Yeah. We stopped her before but, I guess she can still shoot stuff here from space," Steven shrugged, he then walked over to Garnet.

"Which is very annoying!" Anders groaned dramatically.

"So…what do you think it was doing here?" Steven asked Garnet.

"We destroyed it," Garnet said picking up a piece of the destroyed robonoid. "That's all that matters," Garnet said tossing the piece aside.

Steven nodded and went "hm". "Goop hug!" Amethyst yelled getting Garnet and Anders covering the two even more.

Pearl walked over to the hugging trio covered in goo, she looked at Garnet bashfully. Garnet pulled her in all four of the in a goo hug, Anders rolled his eyes and sighed happily. Later on Anders sat in his office watching a TV show on his laptop, while Steven used the phone. Anders yawned and laid back in his chair, he tried to take another nap when suddenly a loud boom was heard and his Traveler's Deck buzzed. He slammed his head into the desk as the Gems ran out of the temple. Anders grabbed his shotgun and shuffled alongside them.

"Something entered the atmosphere," Garnet pointed out.

"Yup," Anders groaned.

"There it is," Amethyst pointed out.

"It's another one of those things!" Pearl groaned.

"It's on Mask Island!" Garnet said.

Anders was already on the warp pad. "Let's go already!" Anders sang.

The group warped to Mask Island. The robonoid wandered around aimlessly crashing into trees towards the warp.

"Is it…looking for a warp?" Pearl asked confused.

"Who cares let's guy shoot," Anders yawned. "I need to go home and take a nap."

They effortlessly destroy the robonoid, goo splattered all over them.

"What are these things even trying to do?" Steven asked covered in goo.

"We're…we're not sure," Pearl said with a sigh.

"But that doesn't matter now," Garnet said.

Steven moaned and they returned to the temple. Later Steven was talking on the phone with Connie while Anders napped on the couch. He softly snored wearing his third outfit of the day, when his Traveler's Deck buzzed waking him up and making him fall off the couch, he groaned and didn't get up. The Gems rushed out of the temple.

"Ugh another that like the fifth one this week!" Amethyst groaned annoyed.

"Twenty third to be exact," Anders said with a yawn.

"We'll find it in the desert," Garnet said running to the warp pad.

"Sorry Connie got to go talk to you later," Steven said quickly as he hung up the phone.

With annoyed looks on their faces they warped to the desert. The saw the robonoid standing by the warp pad, the gem's leapt into action. Anders hung back realizing he forgot his shotgun and only had his micro pistol.

"Stop! Coming! Here! You! Stupid! Little! Balls!" Pearl cried out stabbing the Robonoid with each word.

"Yay go team do it," Anders cheered halfheartedly.

"Yeah let's get crazy!" Amethyst cheered as she wrapped her whip around the ball.

"The war in Somalia was less tasking," Anders muttered under his breath.

Steven failed his arms. "Guys, guys, stop!" He said getting the Gems attention. "How many more of these things are you gonna have to fight?"

"As many as we have to Steven," Anders said trying to play it cool.

Then Pearl snapped (Much to Anders disappointment). "We don't know! They just keep coming and coming and we don't even know what they are! - We don't know anything!" Pearl cried stressed out.

"That's okay - I don't know anything all the time, it's like my whole life. But I have you guys to tell me about tell me about Gem stuff, Connie can explain what familiars are, Dad tells me weird dad stuff, and the mercenaries a bunch of war and Gem secrets behind your backs," Steven said inspirationally.

The Gems passed a glare at Anders, before refocusing their attention at Steven. "But nobody knows what these things are here to do," Pearl said with a sigh calming down.

"Well we're on the verge of being close to figuring it out," Anders said meekly.

"You're on the verge of everything," Garnet shot.

"Well it probably knows," Steven pointed to the robonoid.

"What?" Pearl asked confused.

"We could follow it to see where it goes," Steven suggested.

"Are you nuts?!" Amethyst yelled quite over dramatically.

"Who knows what could go wrong?" Pearl asked rhetorically.

"We can't keep fighting these things forever - Well, we can...but I don't want to. Let's do it Steven's way," Garnet ordered.

"Yeah let's follow its funky flow," Steven said waving his arms like noodles.

"I really shouldn't have let Marcus show him Dance Nights 3 Just set Me Free," Anders groaned.

"Actually he already saw the first two," Garnet informed him.

"Oh that poor child," Anders said with a sigh.

"We're dead," Amethyst said as they climbed on top of the Robonoid.

"Alright big guy mush!" Steven said the robonoid bolted forward towards the warp pad.

The Gems and Anders screamed as the robonoid ran forward. The robonoid stood on top of the warp pad and warped. The appeared in the kindergarten, Anders stared at the robonoid and the surroundings. He finally had a serious expression on his face and reached for his micro pistol.

"The Kindergarten…" Garnet said sounding breathless.

"Oh, why here? This site has been damaged enough by the Gems that were incubated here 6,000 years ago! That's it! It's confirmed. These things are up to no good!" Pearl summoned her spear and was about to stab it.

Steven stopped her. "Wait! We don't even know what it's doing here? Can't we just... see where it wants to go?" Steven asked hopefully.

"Garnet…" Pearl looked up at her leader.

"We're doing this Steven's way," Garnet said simply.

Pearl sighed and made her spear disappear. Anders still tightly held onto his gun. The robonoid jumped onto ground level and walked through the kindergarten.

"What does it want here?" Pearl asked looking down at the robonoid.

"Maybe it wants to see where Amethyst came from," Steven suggested meekly.

"Maybe it should mind its own business," Amethyst muttered under her breath angrily.

"I don't like this at all," Pearl said with a glare.

"I actually agree with Pearl on this," Amethyst said she then turned to Anders who had a grim and serious expression on his face. "And I think Anders does too," She said slightly intimidated.

"Aww can't you guys feel his funky flow, this guy's a funk master," Steven said patted the robonoid.

"How do you know what funk is?" Anders asked with a raised eyebrow.

Steven shrugged. "I can't believe we're doing this," Pearl groaned.

The robonoid stopped, Garnet grabbed Steven and Anders and the gems leapt off the robonoid. The robonoid turned into a pyramid shape and floated into a large hole. The pyramid slid down the hole, Steven stared at it with his pupils as stars. Steven jumped down the hole and slid down the hole. The Gems and Anders looked at each other and nodded at each other. They slid down the hole and joined Steven on top of the pyramid. They makeshift elevator stopped at the bottom of the shaft in a large room with multiply wires and screens inside of it. Anders quickly pulled out his Traveler's Deck and stared to scan the setting. A glowing control panel arose and the robonoid turned into a hand, the Gems and Anders fell on the ground due to the change. It floated to the panel and placed its hand shape on top of it. The large screen started to show static, then suddenly Peridot appeared on screen. Anders started to track and take apart the signal. Peridot looked left and right across the room and groaned at the room in disgust. The Gems and Anders hid out of sight.

"Established Gem Projection Link with control room. Plug Robonoid has successfully landed on Planet Earth and entered Prime Kindergarten Control Room in Facet Five. Will proceed to perform status check of Kindergarten," Peridot reported to herself, Anders started to record her.

"It's Peridot," Amethyst whispered.

Anders took out his micro pistol and gripped it tightly. "Is she trying to reactivate the kindergarten doesn't she know that would destroy all life on Earth?" Pearl asked no one in particular.

"Why don't we ask her," Steven said casually.

"Shh - Steven, we're facing an enemy we don't know with technology we don't understand. This isn't the time to be asking questions," Garnet said in an authority tone.

"Well technology you guys don't understand we actually cracked a lot of their code," Anders added sounding slightly smug.

"Really sounds like a…" Steven trailed off.

"Ok - here's the plan: We can't let her see us, so we wait for an opening. When she's distracted, we destroy the power source on the far wall. Steven stays here," Garnet ordered.

Anders nodded and held his pistol at the ready. Steven suddenly got up and walked towards Peridot. The Gems whisper shouted his name, but he ignored them.

"Now accounting for all operational Injectors. Checking for aberrations in perimeter," Peridot babbled on.

Two spots on the floor begin to glow white, and two large green hand constructs emerge from them. The hands activate a pair of panels on the ceiling which causes cylinders to eject from the ceiling. Anders stared at the process interested.

"Ugh, this Gem Tech is simply archaic," Peridot complained.

"I don't know it seems pretty cool," Steven said nonchalantly.

A tense silence took hold; Anders held his gun at the ready. Peridot abruptly canceled all she was doing and stared at Steven.

"Hi! I'm Steven," Steven beamed happily.

"There appears to be an infestation of "Stevens" in the Kindergarten," Peridot noted.

"Daww, I'm not that bad if you get to know me," Steven said cutely.

"And how many more Stevens are present in this area?" Peridot asked inquisitively.

"Oh, just me," Steven said modestly.

"That's a relief. So tell me - Have Stevens replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth?" Peridot asked looking at him.

"Oh no - there's lots of humans, there's my dad, Connie, Lars and Sadie, the mailman, Anders, Twentieth, Marcus, Wallace, Pequod, Onion... I think... lots of people," Steven answered listing off a group of people.

Peridot took note of this and went "hmm". "So now that I answered your question can I ask one?" Steven asked politely.

"Just picking up where we left off," Peridot said simply not caring.

Anders appeared in front of Steven, Steven leapt back startled having no clue how Anders appeared. Peridot stared at the new comer with minor interest.

"Excuse Miss Peridot I am Commander Anders Q. Sherman of the T.O.U mercenary forces, I commander the special opts. division as well and co-command Gem activity on Earth, it is my duty to record you're reason to be on Earth so could you be more specific about you're mission?" Anders asked standing up straight and respectable his tone oozed of authority and confidence.

"I have no reason to disclose this information to you," Peridot said snidely.

"Actually you do, this is not a Gem controlled planet there forth these actions are deemed wrong, Gems with exception of the Crystal Gems cannot operate on Earth any and all Homeworld actions are considered an act against the peace that came from the Homeworld's retreat in the war," Anders said with a glare.

"For a human you seem rather well informed on Gem interactions," Peridot scoffed. "But I don't have to listen to a human's orders."

"That is only the being of my knowledge on Gem affairs I know about the colonization, the kindergartens inner-workings, Gem science, the rebellion, the war, and even about Black Opal," Anders said his glare becoming more fierce.

Peridot's monitor faces away from Steven and Anders. Peridot raises a hand above Steven and forms a fist, then attempts to crush him. Garnet appeared out of nowhere and caught the fist and threw it.

"A gem!" Peridot yelled out in surprise.

Amethyst and Pearl jumped up. "Ah! More? But the Red Eye didn't report the presence of any Gems on this planet!" Peridot yelled angrily.

"That's because we destroyed it," Pearl said blushing.

"You what? But the records say that Gems were wiped out on earth... wait a minute... you're the ones that have been destroying my Plug Robonoids... are you the reason the Homeworld Warp is down again? Is this your bizarre icon?" She showed them the Crying Breakfast Friends sticker. "Uhrooh! Why do you keep destroying my things?!" Peridot cried out angrily whining.

"I regret showing her respect," Anders said with a glare.

"Because we are the Crystal Gems! We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!" Pearl yelled proudly still blushing.

"The Crystal Gems," Peridot repeated confused.

The hands went slamming down into the ground, the Gems and Steven abruptly went leaping into the air and Anders simply rolled on the ground dodging them. Anders pointed his handgun at the power source.

"Stop! How dare you? I'm doing this one way or another. You're just... making it... really... difficult!" Peridot complained throwing a temper tantrum.

Anders shot the power source. "I'm," A loud buzzing noise stopped her talking making it sound like gibberish.

"Guess she got lost in translation," Anders tried to quip.

"That one doesn't work on all levels," Amethyst face palmed.

The Gems and Anders then turned to Steven. "Okay, I might have went a little bit too far this time," Steven said nervously.

"Well, Steven you weren't completely wrong. We learned something new because of your decisions," Garnet said encouragingly.

"Alright!" Steven said happily.

"But yeah, this was a pretty bad idea," Garnet said reverting to her normal tone.

"Aww man," Steven sighed.

Anders walked into the R&D lab and stood next to Marcus who was watching a red dot float through space on a screen.

"We were able to figure out their location and figure out how long it will take for them to get here," Marcus informed him seriously.

"What's the plan?" Anders asked still staring at the screen.

"One infiltrate the ship and steal as much data, files, information, and mission reports as possible, two destroy the ship, and three kill the Gems aboard, we are currently trying to figure out how to remotely disable their ship and technology," Marcus said taking one of his pills.

Twentieth sat on create behind the two holding a recently shined revolver smoking a cigarette. "And I'll be up there with you," Twentieth said with a smirk.


	21. The Return/Jailbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meh

The Return/Jail Break

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING MOTHER TRUCKERS (EXPECT FOR ANDERS AND THE MERCS) I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD GET HERE

Anders, Twentieth, Pequod, and Marcus stood in the R&D lab looking over a giant holographic screen. Displayed on the screen was the beach in front of the temple, the kindergarten, and a large dot flying through the air towards Earth. Scientist sat at multiply computers at the ready.

Marcus cleared his throat. "According to our information the Gem ship shall enter Earth's atmosphere today around seventeen hundred hours, we do not know how many Gem's will be on the ship though. Due to its flight patterned we have predicted that it will land in front of the temple where the gems will no doubt incept it. We will use the Gems as a distraction to infiltrate their ship," Marcus explained showing holographic images to show his predications.

"Wouldn't attack the ship head on alongside the Gems be a better option I'm sure they would appreciate the help," Anders suggested meekly.

"No way fighting against an enemy head on with all these uncertainties would be a suicide mission," Twentieth brought up assertively.

"Understood sir," Anders nodded.

"As I was saying upon reaching the ship I should be able to open a door way and let you in, but that is all I can do, until you insert my program into their ships system," Marcus slide a computer chip to Anders. "Put that in your Traveler's Deck and get it into their server room, you can track it through the ship's signal," Marcus instructed. "Twentieth your mission is place the bombs and kill as many Gems as possible, but do not leave or blow up the ship until we gathered all the information we can from the Gems, you have permission to shatter them," Twentieth smirked and nodded.

"What if the Gems manage to defeat the Crystal Gems quicker than expected and try to get to the kindergarten?" Pequod asked looking over the kindergarten hologram.

"That's where you come in, you and fifty other soldiers will lying in wait with a prototype of project Shattered Shards, as soon as they leave the ship activate Shattered Shards and attack them," Marcus ordered.

Pequod nodded. "Are you sure Shattered Shards would work?" Anders asked concerned.

"It is a risk I'm willing to take it may do nothing to them or it may be the key to are victory," Marcus sighed rubbing his forehead.

Anders inserted the chip into his deck. "So where is the stealth system?" Anders asked interested.

Marcus finally brightened up. "Ah yes it is new technology so be careful with," Marcus wheeled himself over to Twentieth and Anders he handed them both a computer chip. "This will allow you to project a large holographic barrier around you that automatically changes to any possible setting, by constantly scanning the surroundings."

Anders and Twentieth inserted the chips. "The ship would obviously have escape pods so you can get out using those," Marcus assumed nonchalantly.

"I never dreamed of this day," Twentieth said aloof. "I never expected to be fighting against invading aliens, I never even thought I would live to this age, it's a little bit amazing if you put a little bit of thought into it," Twentieth chuckled. "It's like a movie," He shook his head. "How ridiculous."

"Yeah tell me about it," Anders agreed with a sheepish smile.

"I think it funs nothing like blowing up monsters with a Blackhawk," Pequod chuckled earnestly.

"Only if my quote on quote colleagues could see my now," Marcus smiled fondly. "They would be bowing at my feet begging for forgiveness knowing that I would be the only one that can save them," Marcus said almost sounding menacing.

"Yeah buddy sure," Pequod said slightly creeped out.

"Now I'll be here heading the mission, all the rest of you split up," Marcus ordered.

The three other mercs saluted and dispersed. Anders was wearing his normal uniform and Twentieth actually wearing his uniform under his trench coat. Soldiers stood at the ready saluting as the two walked. The compound was alive with preparation, guns were being ripped out of the armories, helicopters and their one jet fighter were being fueled and armed, elite squadrons patrolled and marched across the concreate base, snipers dressed in red rock ghille suits flocked to the helicopters alongside Pequod, bombs designed by Wallace and Marcus were given to Twentieth. A tense wind flew through the tropical setting, it was a beautiful day the sun was shining, birds was tweeting, yet it only made the circumstances feel direr. Twentieth revolvers were hung at his sides and Anders shotgun was hung on his back, the two stepped on a warp pad and teleported to the warp just outside of Beach City. They walked through streets of Beach City only gaining a few passing glances. The citizens were oblivious of what loomed over the horizon. Children were playing, teenagers were loitering, and the business owners went over normal business. Anders and Twentieth climbed to the top of the giant hill overlooking the city. They stared at the ocean waiting, Twentieth sat like a monk and placed a cigarette in his mouth, lighting it up. He closed his eyes seemingly meditating while Anders observed the sky with binoculars. The smell of Twentieth smoke mixed with ever looming scent of rose buds that the town always seemed to have. Anders observed the Gems sending Steven off with a smile, he ran towards his father. As soon as Steven was gone, the Gem's expression turned grim, Anders frowned.

"Twentieth do you ever regret what you have done?" Anders asked breaking the silence.

Twentieth stopped meditating and ashed his cigarette into the air. "Hmm," He said solemnly. "I can't say that I have," Twentieth shrugged casually. "Why do you ask?"

"I've been thinking about my life lately, before the T.O.U and how I betrayed the Gems what if some wrong happens again, what if Wallace and Pepper get involved, what if something happens Steven or the Gems?" Anders asked hollowly.

Twentieth pondered the question and closed his eyes once again, after a moment he opened them his sharp dark yellow eyes got Anders attention. "Anders we cannot deal on our pasts, nor allow ourselves to be trapped in the fear of the future, we must live life for what it is and understand that our future is made of nothing, but our choices, if we allow regret to control us then you can never truly live in the moment. I would have gone insane a long time if I let my regret control me. We have all made what we may have deemed a bad decision, but it is your still decision you must live with it. You have done great things Anders in the T.O.U and your private life, you are much more than the punk I first received, you have grown to be something great," Twentieth mused closing his eyes again.

Anders stared at his boss wide eyed. "Thanks," Anders said surprised.

"No problem," Twentieth said nonchalantly going back to his meditation.

"I got another question?" Anders said looking over his boss.

"Go ahead shoot," Twentieth said with a yawn.

"Are you a Buddhist?" Anders asked noting the meditation.

"No," Twentieth responded obviously wanting to go back to his meditation.

"Ok," Anders shrugged going back to recon.

The two sat at the hill for hours as people went on with lives. The sun slowly set and Twentieth got up. A cold gust of wind blew through the city and the world seemed to stand still. Waves stopped clashing with the shore and a lavender glow covered the sky, suddenly a loud boom echoed through the sky. Twentieth and Anders heads darted up and saw a giant hand shaped ship flying towards them. The sky changed color and birds scattered cawing in terror. Anders pulled out his Deck and took photos of the ship as it approached. Windows shattered and panic took hold. The hand seemingly pointed at them. The Gems gathered in front of their temple and fired a laser from the light canons, to no avail. Anders sighed and Twentieth pulled out another cigarette. They sat and watched the ship getting closer and closer, the city evacuated. Anders watched the Gems tearfully send Steven of with Greg, Anders frowned and then shrugged. Pearl and Amethyst danced and formed Opal the ship was less than a mile away from touchdown.

Twentieth threw his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out. "Go time," He said as he activated his stealth field.

Anders nodded and followed suit. The two ran down the hill and through the empty city. A cold breeze sent a shiver down Anders spine as they arrived at the beach. A loud roar echoed through and out of a portal came Steven riding on top of lion. The shock defused Opal, Twentieth and Anders leapt into the water just as the ship touched down. Anders stared at the ship with his eyes widen by shock, Twentieth merely rolled his eyes at the spectacle. They swam behind the ship and pulled out grappling hook and shot a line to the top of the ship. Anders and Twentieth climbed to the top of the ship. Anders scanned the ship and watched what was happening on the beach. On one of the ship fingers stood four gems two he recognized as Peridot and Lapis Lazuli, the other two were a giant bulky orange gem with long white hair and a skinny tall fabulous looking black gem with stylish robes and armor, his body seemed to glow and sparkle. Anders placed his Traveler's Deck over the door.

"Ok Marcus get to work," Anders whispered.

"On it," Marcus started the program.

Twentieth looked over the four Gems like a hunter analyzing their prey. "Anders do those Gems have any certain weaknesses I can exploit?" Twentieth asked seriously.

"Peridots are nothing impressive you could probably kill with two bullets, Lapis is only strong when around water she doesn't like direct combat so she might try to one, the orange one is a Quartz type Gem they are nothing more than brutes just aim for the head and keep a big distance though," Anders handed his shotgun to Twentieth. "You may need that, the black one is an Obsidian, but this one seems," The Obsidian looked at his reflection in his katana and styled his hair not caring about the Crystal Gems in front of him. "Fruity," Anders shrugged.

Twentieth went "hmm" and observed the confrontation. The pointer finger raised and pointed to the Gems on the beach. Energy gathered in the finger and glowed brightly, Twentieth still remained unimpressed while Anders gulped. A large beam fired out of the finger towards the Gems.

"No!" Anders yelled, Twentieth tackled his commander just as the door opened, they fell into the ship.

Rose's shield formed and started to block the beam, the Homeworld Gems stared at the sight in surprise, Obsidian dropped his katana and a large smile stretched across his face. "How beautiful," He whispered memorized by the sight. "Such a wondrous ability, if Rose did have something it was style," He said admiringly happily clapping.

"You! You have the power of Rose Quartz!" Jasper yelled at Steven surprised.

"Now do you believe I needed an escort," Peridot shot.

"Fire a barrage! Widespread!" Jasper ordered angrily.

"Aww I wanted to keep them as pets," Obsidian sighed halfheartedly.

Peridot swipes a finger right across her monitor. Garnet pushed Steven out of the way. The ship cuts a line across the beach, causing an explosion with Pearl and Amethyst getting caught in it and got launched away. The smoke clears, revealing Steven to be safe.

"Yay the doll survived can I keep him now?" Obsidian asked placing a finger on his chiseled chin.

"Now's not the time Obsidian," Jasper growled annoyed.

"But he is so adorable," Obsidian pouted.

"He is Rose Quartz!" She yelled at the disappointed Gem.

"Still he would make a great pet," Obsidian said still pouting.

Jasper groaned and walked over to Steven. "Rose, why do you look like that? Why are you so weak?" Jasper asked glaring at a scared Steven.

"Don't hurt him!" Lapis cried concerned.

"Oh darling, you know we can't promise you that," Obsidian said with a chilling smile. "Now why didn't you tell me about this cutie during our integration?"

Lapis shuddered. "It wasn't relevant to the mission," Lapis stuttered out.

"Oh dear, I think you were just trying to keep him all to yourself," Obsidian said walking towards her. "Don't you know how long we've been waiting to see if Rose was still alive, right Jasper?"

"Yeah, forget the mission!" Jasper announced to Peridot's surprise.

"What!?" Peridot cried confused.

"Yellow Diamond needs to see this... thing," Jasper uttered in disgust.

"Oh Jasper treat poor by nicer, we wouldn't want him to be afraid of us, yet," Obsidian chuckled.

Jasper rolled her eyes. "Uh…" Steven stutter staring the group.

Suddenly Garnet leapt out of the water and charged towards them. "Good," Jasper said with a smirk, she summoned her weapon.

The two clashed blows. A powerful shock wave filled the beach launching back sand. Obsidian rolled his eyes and muttered "uncivil brutes," as Garnet and Steven flew back. Garnet stabilized and charged at Jasper once again, Jasper smirked once again pulled out a destabilizer. Electricity flowed through the device; Jasper stabbed Garnet with it making her poof. Her Gem stones fell on the ground.

"For a shameful disgrace she sure knew how to move," Obsidian mused.

Jasper glared at Steven. "I was there, you know. At the first war for this garbage planet. I fought against your armies. I respected your tactics. But this...?" She lifted Steven by his shirt. "This is sick!" She yelled disgusted.

"Let go of him!" Pearl yelled charging.

"Oh the Pearl is worried how sad," Obsidian said sarcastically as he checked his nails for dirt.

"I don't get what you're planning, Rose. But look! Your base is taken. Your armies are ruined! You have failed!" Jasper yelled as he head-butted Steven in the eye knocking him out.

"How dare you!" Pearl cried out seething with anger.

"No Steven!" Amethyst yelled worried

"Ugh I always hated Pearls," Obsidian groaned, he then glared at Amethyst. "Almost as much as I hate defects."

Obsidian sighed dreamily and summoned his katana. "Jasper I shall with these deal with these…failures," Obsidian said disgusted.

"By my guest," Jasper said as he she walked back towards the ship with Steven and Ruby and Sapphire Gems.

Pearl and Amethyst glared at Obsidian who obviously didn't care about them. "We're not afraid of you," Pearl said tightly gripping her spear.

"The statement is shared, but look on the bright side of this," Obsidian said with a dreamy smile. "At least your demise will be glamorous."

Obsidian seemed to sparkle as he said those worlds. Pearl and Amethyst charged at him, he yawned spun his katana. Amethyst swung her whip towards him, he effortlessly avoided by spinning into the air. Pearl shot a beam of energy at him, he merely sighed and gracefully dodged the blast. His own katana was covered in a black energy. He slashed the air and slash of pure sparkling black energy flew through the air at an extreme speed. It easily cut off Amethyst head and Pearl in half, poofing them.

"Hahaha that's what you get for challenging an elite," Obsidian said with a bow as their Gems hit the sand.

Obsidian picked up their gems and hummed a song as he joined the rest of the Homeworld Gems on the pad to the ship.

Anders walked through the seemingly endless corridors of the warship; he gripped his handgun tightly as he observed the settings. He tapped and into their communicators and overheard what was happening on the beach a mixture of relief and worry filled his mind. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Footsteps echoed through the ship and cold draft blew. Suddenly the ship shook and moved, but instead of the direction of the Kindergarten, it pointed itself upwards towards the sky. The sudden change in direction made Anders fall into a wall, he grunted annoyed. The ship finally stabilized and started to the climb through the sky, Ander stood up and looked out a nearby window, he saw them pierced the clouds. Anders contacted Twentieth.

"Did you feel that sir?" Anders asked in a whisper.

"Yeah we just took off didn't we," Twentieth said with a sigh.

"Yes we have, but we're not going the Kindergarten, we're heading into the space," Anders said breathlessly.

"I guess we're the first mercs to go into space," Twentieth chuckled.

"Yeah," Anders smiled meekly.

"Don't worry just keep to the normal plan, the T.O.U has a control of a satellite just as long as they don't get past the moon our plan should go fine," Twentieth informed him.

"By have control do you mean we just hacked into a cellphone satellite don't you," Anders sighed.

"Bingo," Twentieth hung up on Anders and stared at the bombs he placed around the store room.

Twentieth sighed and walked out of the store room. He stared at the prison cells decorating the walls; he threw a bomb into one of the cells. A holo field disguised the bombs. He body ached a little and he felt tired, he pulled out a bottle of pills and popped one them. He ran a hand through his short cut white hair and stubbly beard of the same color. You could barely notice his small wrinkles. He heard footsteps, he ducked behind a wall and pulled out on of his revolvers.

"Through them in those two cells," A lavish and flamboyant voice ordered.

"Yes sir," Peridot's voice groaned annoyed.

Twentieth peeked his head out of cover and saw Pearl and Amethyst gems being thrown into two cells. Obsidian, Lapis, and Peridot walked off and left the Gems behind in their cells. Twentieth stared at the sight and rolled his eyes and continued his journey. He followed the group in silence; they led Lapis to a cell and pushed her into a cell.

"Wait I'm not supposed to be here I'm the informant!" She cried as Obsidian and Peridot turned their backs.

"Yes that was before the mission changed, now you are nothing, but a civilian on looker therefore you must be detained until we return to Homeworld and as well as punish you for giving Homeworld officials in adequate information," Obsidian informed her as they walked past Twentieth leaving her behind in a cell.

Twentieth glared at the depressed Lapis and stared at his revolver, he put away and simply put a bomb on the wall. "She is just a civilian in this case," He muttered. "But still she caused a lot of trouble."

Anders walked down a long corridor and finally the opening to the server room. He looked up and down the hall and went through the doors, surprisingly he found it unguarded. He walked over to where the signal originated from and activated the computer chip.

"Hey Wallace get over here!" Marcus yelled from his computer.

"Yes sir," Wallace said as he walked over to his boss.

"Watch this," Marcus chuckled as he tapped a button.

Suddenly multiply screen showed camera footage around the ship as well as the ships controls. "You know how you showed me that video game about the hipster hackers with the obnoxious music and retro art," Marcus said as he was about to press a second button.

"Yeah…wait did you?" Wallace asked wide eyed.

Marcus simply chuckled and pressed the button. The ship suddenly stopped short making the Gems and the mercs go crashing into the walls, the lights on the ship blinked and changed colors in a strobe light esque fashion, and loud techno music blared through the speakers. A black gem was strutting to the music as he patrolled.

Wallace burst out laughing. "Oh it gets better," Marcus commented.

Peridot growled annoyed by the ship's sudden technical problems. "What is it now?" She growled angrily as she glared at the screen over the control panel. "This mission has been nothing but a constant stream of annoyances!"

Peridot scream and leapt out of her seat. Peridot was startled by the sudden appearance of four skeletons on the on the screen and loud screeching noise and hollowing laughter filling the control room. Suddenly the words "Boo! Hacking You!" appeared on the screen. A loading bar appeared on the screen with over 10% was complete. Peridot gasped and rushed to the control panel once again, as soon as she placed her hands in the panel, it shocked her. She yelped in pain, but continued to try and repel the program.

"Marcus," Twentieth and Anders groaned annoyed as the chaos took over the ship.

Twentieth placed another bomb when suddenly his Traveler's Deck buzzed. He opened it and saw a large map of map of the ship where everyone was pointed out by little dots. He noticed Obsidian walking towards a large room that Twentieth was by, Twentieth smiled and stared at a surprise he had in his bomb bag.

"First target," Twentieth smiled.

Black Opal walked into an open room and stared at the surroundings. Despite initially enjoying the changes on the ship such as the lights and music it was starting to annoy him. Suddenly an old human male appeared out of thin air in across the room. He yawned and stared at Obsidian.

"Oh my how could such a disgusting being exist," Obsidian gagged.

"Strange about to say the same to you," Twentieth quipped bored.

Obsidian eye twitched annoyed. "As if I care about a comment from an insignificant piece of dirt like yourself has to say," Obsidian chuckled. "But why is a human here anyways?"

"Simple," Twentieth pulled out one of his revolvers and aimed for Obsidian. "To kill you."

Obsidian smiled largely and burst out laughing he was nearly brought to tears. "A frail, disgusting, fowl smelling, creepy old man like yourself killing me," Obsidian mocked. "If you hadn't known I'm an elite, a true warrior, a soldier fellow Gems fair, here I'll give you a chance to run go on get," Obsidian made a shooing motion with his hand.

Twentieth fired, Obsidian barely dodged, the bullet grazed hair, Obsidian glared at a bored Twentieth. "How dare you old man!" Obsidian yelled pissed off.

Twentieth held up his middle finger and Obsidian gasped and charged. Obsidian summoned his katana ran across the room, as soon as he reached the middle of the room a loud explosion range. A cloud of smoke covered the room, Twentieth stood completely still, he aimed his revolver forward. The smoked and in its place stood an astonished Obsidian, hundred among hundreds of bits of shrapnel lodged into his body. Obsidian whimpered and groaned in pain, he fell on to his knees. Twentieth yawned and fired another round at him. Obsidian dodged and gathered a black energy in his katana; he slashed the air and sent a beam flying towards Twentieth. The slash was slowly and messy due to the pain, Twentieth easily. Obsidian charged tried to slash the elder with a downward slash. Twentieth grabbed Obsidian's right arm as he swung, stopping the attack, he then shot the arm completely off. Obsidian roared in pain and he leapt backwards. He's eyes were burning with rage and his expression feral. Obsidian summoned another katana and faultily tried to attack Twentieth again. The swings, stabs, and cuts were messy, unprecise, random, and spastic Twentieth dodged the attacks with ease.

"How could I be losing to an old human like you, I am an elite!" Obsidian cried out seething with unbridled hatred.

Twentieth got behind the Gem and shot his other arm off and kicked Obsidian down into the ground. "You dare call yourself an elite, all I see is a child failing around angrily. Have you ever seen a war, in fact how long has it been since you society even had to fight. You have no clue how to fight against a veteran like me, I've seen horrible things. Comrades die in ditches, I've had my best friend blood splatter on my face, I've fought against hundreds of soldiers. Sometimes the things I've seen haunt me. But those horrors made me stronger, I evolved, they rarely bother me anymore, you haven't experienced that yet, until you have you can never be an elite. You're just another slave for a backwards society run by shit eating aliens," Twentieth said cold and menacingly, his form was unbreakable, and tension hung in the air.

"How dare you talk about the diamonds like that!" Obsidian yelled quickly going on his feet trying to kick Twentieth. "No one can insult my master!"

Twentieth dodged the kick and cut Obsidian's leg off with a combat knife, Obsidian's eyes opened wide in horror, he fell back on to the ground unable to get up, he looked up and Twentieth remorseless, his face void of all emotion. "Master, that's one thing I really hate about you're society. You are nothing but a slave, you are an elite because they told you, you were an elite, they built your personality, you have no free will. There is no desires, no freedom, no strength, no individuality, you don't even exist per say. You will never achieve anything in that society, because you are completely expandable. I hate people like you," Twentieth pointed his gun towards Obsidian's gem, he shot straight through it.

Obsidian's gem shattered apart as soon as the bullet impacted. Twentieth pulled out a cigarette and a single match, he placed the cigarette in his mouth and lite it up. He walked over to a window showing the Earth.

"What a beautiful sight," He mused as he watched the Earth turn.

Peridot was kicked out of the system again. With every failure the shock grew more painful and the laughter grew louder. The skeletons on the screen danced and mocked her, the music drove her to the brink of insanity, screen kept displaying annoying messages. The loading bar was at 85% and about to tap into the mission data at 92%. The door behind her opened and closed, she stared at the sight annoyed, but just sighed. She looked back at the screen.

"Darn it what's going on!" Peridot cried as the security system was being ripped apart remotely, their files were being stolen, the ship stopped moving, and their mission data was being taken as she spoke, she desperately tried to stop the hacker, but to no avail. "This system should be impenetrable!"

Suddenly she felt a cold blade being shoved through her ribs. She turned her to the left and saw nothing looking back at her; she looked down and saw a combat knife. Out of nowhere she was punched out of her chair and arms and legs were suddenly tied up by ropes. Suddenly Anders appeared in front of her holding the knife.

"You, you were the human at the Kindergarten, how did you get on board!?" Peridot yelled through the pain.

"Isn't it obvious you let us in," Anders chuckled; Peridot looked up at him in shock. "You're signal from the robonoids was the perfect way to get inside the ship, it is your fault that we are currently taking over the ship," He became more serious. "I always wondered what Gems were like, not the Crystal Gems, what real Gems were like. And everything I thought was true, you're snide, cocky, ignorant, nothing more than drones."

"No you're wrong! I would never be so careless, I would never let a clod like you be able to do this," Peridot yelled mixing fear, anger, and being nervous. "You clods shouldn't capable of doing this!"

"Don't underestimate Earth you clod," Anders shot back with a smirk, suddenly his expression darkened. "Look though if I'm being honest, most humans are nothing, but harmless. I'm different, I know Gems I know what they want, and I know the evil and devastation they can cause. But it's no match to what humans can cause. You see war, war never changes mankind doesn't care about how much destruction comes from their actions as long as they win and achieve their desires. Gems haven't experienced what human war is like. We don't care about what is logically hell when you get down to it World War I started because a bunch of assholes wanted to screw over another bunch of assholes and so on and so forth. The Gems may get the scars of battle, but they never learn how pitiful it is. When I was a young teen I was nothing more than a thug, a mugger, a scumbag, and an all-around terrible guy, I raised hell," He then frowned, a depress expression took over his face and sighed. "I one of the worse guys you could meet, I was a bad guy."

"Why are you telling me this?" Peridot asked nervously shaking.

"I like to tell my life story give them something to think about before I send them off, so they learn something," Anders frowned. "I don't want people to make the mistakes I did, I like to send people off with what little wisdom I amassed."

"You keep saying send them off how does that apply to me?" Peridot asked confused.

"It varies I told my son my life story, but in your case," He leaned down and whispered. "There are bombs all over the ship," He said menacingly.

A shiver went up Peridot's spine. "What about the other beings on the ship and you're life?" She asked panicked. "You don't want to die!"

"We already hacked into the escape pod system, we're just waiting for all of our friends to get here," Anders saw Garnet reform through a security camera and started to attack Jasper, Twentieth admiring the planet he loved, and Steven saving Pearl and Amethyst, he smiled happily. "And that won't take very long."

Anders leaned back and watched Peridot try to break out of the ropes to no avail. Anders noticed a destabilizer and took it hiding it under his shirt. The spat out clod repeatedly as she squirmed, Ander sat in her chair and watched the security camera footage. Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven burst into the control room.

"Peridot surrender now or…" Pearl stared at Anders and the already tied up Peridot in surprise.

"Hello guys miss me?" Anders asked with a smile.

"Anders!" Steven yelled happily as he ran up to the man.

Anders picked up Steven in a hug. "How did you get here?" Steven asked with a smile.

"We snuck aboard the ship to help we've been the ones causing all the chaos little buddy," Anders said putting down Steven.

"That awesome I'm glad you came," Steven said excitedly.

"Garnet may be dealing with Jasper, but we need to deal with Obsidian quickly," Pearl brought up.

"Don't worry he's already dealt with," Twentieth affirmed suddenly appearing behind Pearl.

"Oh great there's even more of them!" Peridot whined angrily.

Pearl leapt back and sweat dropped nervously. "Twentieth I did expect you," Pearl chuckled awkwardly.

"No does, hello favorite," Twentieth said waving to Amethyst.

"Yo," Amethyst said simply.

Anders watched Garnet throw Jasper into the core. "Hey Twentieth did you place bombs are the ships core?" Anders asked meekly.

"Yeah of course why do you ask?" Twentieth said confused.

"Oh sugar honey ice tea," Anders groaned.

The sudden impact to the core made the bombs around it go off. The chain reaction made the bombs around the ship blow across the ship. The download crashed and stopped at 91%. The ship shook violently and Steven held on to Pearl. Peridot scooted across the ground head-butted the ground making an escape pod form over here and shot her away. Anders and Twentieth stared at the technology moderately surprised. Garnet came bursting through the doors.

"Garnet!" The group yelled in unison.

"We got to go!" Garnet ordered.

"What about Lapis?" Steven asked concerned.

"Uhhhhh," Twentieth stuttered out.

"There no time!" Garnet yelled.

The ship came crashing down into the temple and a ball of fire and explosions. Its parts scattered across the beach. Green fire covered across the ground. Lion leapt through the rubble, he ran to a pile and blasted it apart, revealing the mercs and Gems safe inside on of Stevens's bubbles.

"Hmm we're alive," Twentieth said realizing his surroundings.

"Nice one," Garnet complemented Steven.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're a fusion all the time!" Steven said to Garnet ecstatically.

"I forgot that was a thing," Twentieth shrugged.

"You met Ruby and Sapphire!" Amethyst said surprised.

"Oh no! We were going to wait to introduce you, Garnet your plan," Pearl said disappointed.

"We were waiting for you birthday," Garnet informed him.

"It's ok I can pretend I didn't know," Steven suggested.

"I don't think you'll be forgetting this experience anytime soon," Anders chuckled.

"I was thinking this would be way worse," Twentieth joining in on the laughter, when suddenly Jasper burst out of the rubble. "I stand corrected."

Twentieth pointed Ander's shotgun at the Gem, Jasper fell on to her knees. "Don't think you won. You only beat me 'cause you're a fusion! If I had someone to fuse with I'd," Suddenly the rubble next her shifted and Lapis emerged, realizing where she was she tried to fly, but Jasper caught her. "Come here brat! Don't fly off so soon!"

"Lapis!" Steven cried out worried, he tried to run to her, but Pearl and Amethyst held him back.

"Listen to me Lapis fuse me with me," Jasper ordered with an insane look on her face.

"What!" Lapis yelled confused.

Twentieth tried to fire and the gun was jammed due to the impact. "Fuck," Twentieth growled as he looked for his revolvers.

"How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?" Jasper dropped her on the ground. "These Gems, they're traitors to their Homeworld. They kept you prisoner. They used you. This is your chance to take revenge! Come on, just say yes."

A menacing look over took Jaspers face. "Lapis don't do it!" Steven cried on the verge on tears.

Lapis offered her hand to Jasper. "No!" Steven exclaimed freaking out, the two started to dance.

Twentieth saw his revolvers and rolled to them. He grabbed them just as the giant formed; he shot two rounds into the giant stomach. The bullets didn't even make her budge. Malachite glared at Twentieth.

"I'm going to need a bigger gun," Twentieth said simply.

Malachite cackled and formed a water arm over the Gems and mercs. Suddenly the water changed into shackles trapping Malachite. More and more shackles formed trapping the giant woman/monster/thing. The water started to drag the shocked fusion to the ocean.

"What are you doing?" Malachite asked in Jaspers voice.

"I'm done being everyone's prisoner. Now you're my prisoner! And I'm never letting you go!" Malachite cried in Lapis voice as more shackles appeared and pulled her into the water quicker.

The shackles and arms pull her into the ocean, their face shifted and changed look for a brief second as they were pulled underwater. "Lapis!" Steven cried.

"Let's stay on this miserable planet together forever!" Malachite cried in Lapis voice before completely disappearing.

"Yikes they are really bad for each other," Garnet said nonchalantly.

"I call dibs on all the space junk," Twentieth said as equally nonchalantly.

Steven's phone rang, he picked it up. "Uh…hello," Steven said dumbstruck.

"Steven I got your message are you ok!? What's going on!?" Connie asked through the phone concerned.

Everyone remained silent. "Steven…?" Connie repeated confused.

Pearl hugged Garnet, Amethyst stared at the sea dumbstruck, Twentieth lite up another cigarette, and Anders flopped into the sand on his back.


End file.
